Hellenic Bank Association

Millions of bank accounts of taxpayers and companies will soon be targeted by the tax authorities, with the use of the new system which will scan all their movements.

The fact that the interest rate margin in Greece has been double the European average supports the high profitability of the country's four systemic banks, which in the first nine months of 2023 amounted to 2.8 billion euros out of a total of €131.1 billion which was the total profitability of the 109 systemic banks supervised by the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) of the European Central Ba

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has welcomed the decision made by the Competition Commission on Thursday to impose fines totaling 41.7 million euros on five Greek banks, including four systemic ones, and the Hellenic Bank Association for engaging in concerted practices in interbank systems, payment, and electronic transaction services.

The Competition Commission late Thursday imposed fines totaling 41.7 million euros on five Greek banks, including four systemic ones, and the Hellenic Bank Association. The penalties were related to concerted practices in interbank systems, payment, and electronic transaction services.

Over 90% of bank payments were made via internet and mobile banking in 2022, highlighting the dominance of electronic networks in daily transactions, which have almost completely replaced cash transactions at the counter, but also a significant part of transactions at ATMs.

The issues of the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund's divestment from Greek banks and the expansion of the Hercules program were at the center of the meeting held this week by Minister of National Economy Kostis Hatzidakis with the Hellenic Bank Association.

The new Hercules program will include three pending securitizations amounting to 3 billion euros.

The spread between interest rates on loans and deposits is decreasing significantly, mainly after the recent increases in interest rates on new term deposits by Greek banks, according to the Hellenic Bank Association (HBA).

Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras met on Thursday with Andrea Enria, chair of the Supervisory Board of the European Central Bank's Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM).

Enria met with Stournaras and other members of the Bank of Greece's administration, as well as with representatives of the managements of Greek banks and the Hellenic Bank Association.

The Greek government channeled 12.2 billion euros into the real economy in 2020 as part of its support measures and is currently working on designing new measures and updating others to help enterprises cope with the consequences of the pandemic crisis.

Loans whose repayments have been frozen due to the pandemic add up to 30 billion euros, concerning some 400,000 individual and corporate borrowers, according to the Hellenic Bank Association. The moratorium on tranche payments expires on March 31.