Alpha Bank, Greece's second-largest lender, said on Friday first-quarter net profit rose 70 percent, in line with market expectations, on continued growth in retail credit and one-off gains.

Greek banks have been riding a wave of strong credit expansion in the last years as households take advantage of low real interest rates to buy property and consumer goods. Operations in southeast Europe are also feeding bank profits.

"Our performance is supported by rapid volume growth in retail banking and in medium-sized companies and by the expansion of our branch network in southeast Europe," said Chief Executive Dimitris Mantzounis in a statement.

The group, with offices in Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Albania and Cyprus, sold its insurance subsidiary to French insurer AXA last year, realising a capital gain.

Alpha Bank said net interest income (NII) rose 6.1 percent year-on-year in the first quarter to 362 million euros, below market expectations, with its net interest margin stable at 2.4 percent. Analysts were expecting NII at 380 million euros on average.

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