Greek banking sector enters new era after years of financial turmoil

Greece's banking system is now healthy, well-capitalised, with liquidity and profitability after 15 years of successive crises, National Economy and Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis said.

Addressing the annual general meeting of the Hellenic Bank Association, Pierrakakis said the country's banks had moved from being viewed as one of the Greek economy's biggest weaknesses to becoming one of its strongest assets, CE Report quotes ANA-MPA.

"Banks now have a rare opportunity to shape the environment in which they will operate," he said. "Their role is not simply to adapt to the existing economy, but to finance the economy that can emerge."

Pierrakakis said "banks were not merely part of the economic ecosystem but acted as its catalyst. And a catalyst does not follow reactions, it causes them."

"The long-term value of a bank is ultimately determined by the economy it finances," he said. "In a stagnant economy, no level of profitability is sustainable."

He added that financing the transformation of the economy should not be viewed as a sacrifice for the benefit of others, but as the best investment banks could make for their own shareholders.

"From now on, the profitability of Greek banks and the growth rate of the Greek economy will move together. One cannot advance without the other," Pierrakakis said.

Photo: Pexels (Free Stock Photos)