The head of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) supervisory board, Danièle Nouy, met separately on Monday with Bank of Greece (BoG) Gov. Yannis Stournaras and the top executives of Greece’s four systemic banks and the banking association’s leadership, with the credit institutions’ balance sheets under scrutiny.
According to banking circles who spoke after the meeting in Athens, nothing new was agenda of talks, the first such contacts after February 2018 “stress tests” on Greece’s thrice-recapitalized banks were concluded by the European Central Bank (ECB).
Nouy reiterated, as she has done many times before, that non-performing loans (NPLs) burdening Greek banks’ balance sheets must be reduced. As such the sell-off of NPLs portfolios should be stepped up, as well as assets.
In terms of the looming end of the third bailout in August, Greek banks will have to return to the market for inter-bank borrowing, a development that is expected to increase their operational costs.
