Although Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis could not attend the JP Morgan conference in New York and participated online, lowering the expectations, investors showed a strong interest in businesses and Greek banks.
All the critical issues concerning the country’s credit system were discussed in the panel with the participation of the CEOs of the four systemic banks.
It is clear from the questions that international investors are well aware of the strengths and weaknesses of domestic credit institutions.
Bank CEOs were asked about credit expansion and how it will be achieved.
Specific questions were raised regarding the RRF and whether the Fund is ultimately able to cover credit growth in the business sector.
Banks expect a credit expansion of around 7 billion euros in 2024, including loans through RRF, which will mainly concern the business sector.
As far as private loans are concerned, the bill that does not allow the use of cash in transactions will help, as will the government subsidies for special categories.
The CEOs were asked to answer whether they expect higher interest income in the next 12-24 months when interest rates are expected to decrease.
The answers related to the slow pace of interest rate declines, keeping spreads high and strengthening credit expansion to offset any decline in interest income due to falling interest rates.
Banks were also asked about their strategic plans in the near future, the distribution of dividend and whether they will differentiate themselves from the competition.
Moreover, they received questions about the quality of their capital and whether it will be maintained since the deferred tax is something that the banks will amortize in the long term.
Aegean Airlines, Alpha Bank, Attica Bank, Ellaktor, Eurobank GEK TERNA, Helleniq Energy, Intrakat, Lamda Development, Mytilineos, National Bank,OPAP, OTE, Piraeus, PPC, Titan, Bank of Cyprus, officials of the HFSF and the HDADF, the management of CVC Greece with Grivalia Olympia Group and PeopleCert participated in the conference.
