Banks are returning to normality after the decade of crisis, with the repurchase of their insurance companies, banking sources told “N”, after the Eurobank – Fairfax deal for 80% of Eurolife (Life).
This specific agreement reflects the dynamic return of banks – often their subsidiaries – to insurance and the strengthening of the bancassurance portfolio.
The Eurobank deal comes after the agreement of Piraeus, which has already proceeded with the acquisition of Ethniki Insurance, as well as shortly before the announcement of the new insurance “steps” of the National Bank, as “N” has also reported.
These moves, as market players emphasized, constitute a dynamic return to normality for the banks, leaving behind every trace of the crisis.
Greek banks “today have the capital adequacy and the necessary liquidity to recover the insurance activity again”, market sources noted. It is recalled that the sale of insurance companies by banking groups was not a voluntary or business choice, but was imposed by the supervisory authorities, as a result of the crisis. A typical example was Eurobank, which had sold the majority stake (80%) of Eurolife to Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH) and is now recovering it, as well as National Bank.
Therefore, the repurchase of insurance activities now marks “one of the final steps in restoring the Greek banking system to full normality,” banking sources noted, leaving behind the special conditions of the crisis, and in full alignment with the European financial sector. More specifically, Greek systemic banks have entered a dynamic trajectory, which makes them capable of competing with large European banking groups.
