ATHENS--National Bank of Greece SA, the country's largest lender, reported Monday a smaller loss for the third quarter, helped by a solid performance from its Turkish unit that has been put up for sale to boost its capital position.

NBG reported a 401 million euro ($430.5 million) loss, down from a loss of EUR1.6 billion in the second quarter of the year, it said. Loan provisions remained high at EUR343 million in the third quarter, but lower than the EUR2.4 billion charge in the previous three-month period.