By N. Malliara
Closely watched “stress tests” on Greek banks will be concluded in April 2018 and not May 2018, with the preceding February looming as the most important month, according to statements by members of a Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) delegation who met in Athens last week with the top executives of Greece’s four systemic lenders.
The long-standing challenges that Greece’s thrice recapitalized banks face remain a reduction the massive amount of “bad debt” held in their portfolios in the form of NPLs, and, by extension, so-called “strategic defaulters”.
Members of the SSM delegation, according to reports, were particularly “strict” in reminding Greek bankers of implementation of the new IFRS 9 accounting standards that are set to come on line as of Jan. 1, 2018. The topic of hedge accounting, included in the revised financial standards, and its affect on provisions, is expected to have a direct impact on Greek banks’ ledgers.
