Bank of Greece (BoG) Gov. Yannis Stournaras on Friday said after three successive recapitalizations Greece's four systemic banks now enjoy amongst the highest capitalization rates in the Eurozone, as well as sufficient reserves to absorb whatever credit damages.
Speaking at a conference in Athens entitled "The birth of inter-war central banks: building a new monetary order", Stournaras the total value of NPEs in the country remains high, and is a major challenge for the domestic banking system. At the same time, he said efforts to reduce NPEs and NPLs have borne fruit.
In his earlier address, Stournaras said Greece's central bank is no longer an "orphan", in looking back at its establishment in the inter-war period, as well as an indirect criticism of what's been described at attempts by the current Greek government to intervene in the BoG's autonomous action.
"The Bank of Greece is no longer young. More importantly, however, it is no longer an orphan – despite the occasional attempts to make it appear so. It belongs to a large European family with strong institutional ties and a common purpose...On this, the 90th anniversary since we first opened our doors to the public, we are revisiting our past and contemplating our future. But we have chosen to do this through a comparative and international lens."
Stournaras' full address at the conference is found here:
https://www.bankofgreece.gr/Pages/en/Bank/News/Speeches/DispItem.aspx?Item_ID=544&List_ID=b2e9402e-db05-4166-9f09-e1b26a1c6f1b
