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Deposit flight from Greek banks starts again

19 March 2015 / 19:03:55  GRReporter
2158 reads

New turmoil in the banking sector is provoking a sharp tone and an inherent clash between the Greek government and the lenders of Greece. According to estimates of bank experts, deposit flight yesterday was to the amount of 350-400 million euro, which is five times more than in previous days. As reproted in Kathimerini newspaper, yesterday's deposit flight was the largest of the past 30 days, i.e. after signing the agreement of 20 February.

Previously, the Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem had declared that restrictions on capital flow could be imposed in Greece. Then subsequently, a number of statements by Greek and European senior leaders had followed, worsening the climate between the two parties, and continued yesterday. In this situation, banks are worried because of the new wave of deposit flight at a time when the banking system is already cornered, as the European Central Bank is providing financing "drop by drop".

Yesterday the European Central Bank decided to increase the emergency funding for Greek banks (through the Emergency Liquidity Assistance ELA) by 400 million euro. Thus, the total amount offered has increased to 70 billion euro. It should be noted that banks have not used about 2-3 billion from the ELA – a buffer, which is considered sufficient to overcome the increased outflow of deposits. It is expected that the European Central Bank will meet again next week in connection with the Emergency Liquidity Assistance.

In recent months, bank deposits have been seriously affected by the political and economic uncertainty and the lack of progress in finding a solution between Greece and its European partners. According to estimates of banks, from the end of November to the present day, deposits of households and businesses decreased by 26 billion euro, amounting to 138 billion euro. According to the Bank of Greece, in December 2014 deposits decreased by 4 billion euro and in January this year by 12 billion euro. Banks believe that deposit flight from February to the present day amounts to around 10 billion euro. Deposit levels have reached their lowest value since the beginning of the financial crisis in 2010 and the smooth functioning of banks is due to the financing from the Eurosystem.

In late February, Greek banks received a total of 104 billion euro through the Emergency Liquidity Assistance ELA and the European Central Bank. Naturally, as expected, the crisis of available resources has a direct impact on new lending. According to senior bank officials, the procedures for the granting of new loans have been frozen in recent months, thwarting plans to increase funding in 2015. As noted by experts, if no agreement between the Greek government and the European partners is reached soon to eliminate uncertainty, the consequences for the economy will be so serious that it will be impossible to neutralize them even if a good agreement with the lenders is ultimately signed.

Meanwhile, the interest rates on two-year bonds rose by 100 basis points today, exceeding 22.7%, and reaching their highest level since the middle of 2014. That fact alone is highly indicative of the apparent investor concern about the future decisions to be taken in connection with the debt crisis in Greece.

Equally deterrent are the values ​​of interest rates on 5-year and 10-year bonds - the first are in the range of 16.42% and the latter are 11.60%, while the yield on the10-year German bond (bund) dropped to a new historic low of 0.18%.

Yields on Greek bonds have sharply increased as the probability of Greece exiting the euro zone has reemerged and investors and analysts are once again examining whether a possible Grexit would follow and, if so, how.

Alberto Galle of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) states that although he has not yet totally given up on Greece, it is clear that the risk of Greece leaving the single currency union, voluntarily or involuntarily, is increasing. A few days ago, Morgan Stanley determined the risk of Grexit at 1 to 4 in the next six months.

Tags: Deposit flightGovernmentLendersTalksAlexis Tsipras
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