The Greek economic crisis and the banks

Gikas A. Hardouvelis and Dimitri Vayanos

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: In this paper we review the Greek economic crisis focusing on the banking system. Banksovereign linkages were strong during the crisis: banks’ liquidity problems before the sovereign crisis spilled over to the real economy, and more importantly the sovereign’s default rendered all Greek banks insolvent because of their positions in government bonds. The Greek banking system was put back on its feet through a series of recapitalizations, following which industry concentration became the highest in Europe. Banks were slow to reduce non-performing loans (NPLs), which peaked at 48.9% of gross loans, because of their limited capital buffers. Government guarantees for securitizations were finally the key for NPLs to decline close to European averages. Banks’ capital buffers have improved through internal profitability but remain below European averages. Lending to the real economy is low but recovering, and banks’ exposure to the sovereign is again increasing.

JEL-codes: G00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 52 pages
Date: 2023-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ban and nep-fdg
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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/117880/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The Greek Economic Crisis and the Banks (2023)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:117880

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