Bank

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).

The Slovenian central bank will relax its restrictions on retail lending in July to make loans more accessible to individuals whose earnings range from minimum to average pay.

The minimum level of creditworthiness, now set at 76% of the gross minimum wage, will be based on the level of essential living expenses, while taking into account certain additional factors.

The interest rate spread between new deposits and loans increased to 5.60 percentage points in April, as the weighted average interest rate on new deposits remained almost unchanged at 0.25%, while the corresponding rate on new loans increased to 5.85%, the Bank of Greece said on Tuesday.

Greece's four systemic banks recorded an increase in interest income between 50% and 75% in the first quarter of the year, benefiting from the rise in interest rates on their loan portfolios and the containment of interest rates on deposits.

Turkish banks and the country's banking industry are resilient and sound, the top economy official and regulators have said in separate statements.

Some 8.6% of the profitability of Greek banking groups came in 2022 from abroad, where profits before taxes amounted to 380 million euros out of a total of €4.5 billion, which was the profitability of the entire banking system in Greece last year.

The cost of the FX-protected deposit account (KKM) scheme on the budget continues to decline, Treasury and Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati has said.

The volume of deposits under the KKM reached 2.3 billion Turkish Liras (around $120 billion), Nebati wrote on Twitter.

The foreign exchange position of the corporate sector has improved with the liraization of their balance sheets, while the share of the Turkish Lira in households' financial balance has increased significantly, in this way financial resilience indicators of firms and households remain strong, the Central Bank's governor Şahap Kavcıoğlu has said in the bank's biannual Financial Stability Report.

The Central Bank has canceled a previous decision that introduced limits on cash advance withdrawals from credit cards and overdraft accounts.

The bank announced the decision regarding cash advances at the start of the week.

The funds invested last year in the housing market nationwide are estimated at over 8 billion euros, highlighting the upward trend in demand but also in prices.

This amount is high considering both the fact that banks no longer finance 100% of the value of properties to be purchased, and the fact that only 20% of purchases and sales are made through bank lending.