Mr. Gikas Hardouvelis, Professor at the Department of Finance and Banking Management of the University of Piraeus and Senior Independent Director at the National Bank of Greece, honored us with his presence at the 3rd ECB Simulation Conference for university students. In his speech, titled “Greek Banks: a challenging road ahead”, which took place in the context of the Training Day on the 13th of December, 2019, Mr. Hardouvelis focused initially on the challenging period that international banking is expected to face and on the recovery phase of Greek banking institutions. Regarding the current condition of the European Banking system compared to 2007, he highlighted that the combination of smaller size of the balance sheets of banks and tighter regulatory and supervisory frameworks lead to reduced profitability. He continued his speech by describing the long-term crisis of Greek banking institutions, which lost twice about 100% of their stock value, once in February 2012 (due to PSI – Private Sector Involvement) and then in November 2015 due to the BRAVADO recession. Additionally, he emphasized that Greek banking institutions are focusing on the immediate reduction of their non-performing loans. Closing his speech, Mr. Hardouvelis, referring to the future challenges of both European and Greek banks, he stressed that while risks remain contained, profitability is under pressure due to stricter regulation, technology, and competition.

To view the presentation of his speech please click here.