Bloomberg: Greek banks pursue foreign agreements after painful turn

Ready to spend money on deals abroad are the , after coming out of years of painful restructuring, said the top executives of the country’s largest banks today (18.11.2024) at an event. “The Greek banks need to become stronger and bigger,” said Piraeus Bank CEO Christos Megalos during a discussion organised by Bloomberg. “We are all looking at projects outside Greece,” he said. His comments were repeated by the other panel participants, CEO of Alpha Bank Basil Psaltis, the CEO of the National Bank of Greece Paul Mylonas and the CEO of Eurobank Ergasias Service and Holdings SA Fokias Karavias, who added that cross-border integration in the industry would be welcomed by all stakeholders in Greece. Greece is at the forefront of a pan-European effort to return banks to private property. In just over a year, the state left three of the country’s largest lenders and largely assigned its participation to a quarter. The divestments, which yielded 3.5 billion euros for the government, essentially privatised an entire industry. Greek sales launched a new era for European banks, as governments from Ireland to Italy and from the United Kingdom to Germany sell banks held by mass rescues about a decade and a half ago. This is possible because the bank’s ejected valuations promise decent prices, while the holes opening up to the budget mean that many governments are looking for new sources of revenue. “Banks in Greece have surplus capital right now,” Karavias told the panel. They will use it to finance growth, return some money to investors – and seek acquisitions, he said, pointing out “the sectors of banks, insurance and asset management” as the most interesting. He also mentioned markets in Bulgaria and Cyprus in recent years as proof that Greek banks become active resolution agencies. The Greek lenders achieved their recovery gradually. They initially reduced their red loans from a maximum of 90.7% in March 2016 to 6.9% in June. The return to profitability allowed them to pay a dividend this year for the first time since 2008.