Greek banks are having their moment in the sun right now. A return to profitability for some of the country’s largest lenders, a sizeable reduction in bad loans — which banks were saddled with during the sovereign debt crisis more than a decade ago — and the country attaining investment-grade status again, means CFOs like Lazaros Papagaryfallou of Alpha Bank can rest a lot easier.
“There is a broad conviction that Greece will perform well, and better than the eurozone average,” Papagaryfallou tells The Banker. The Greek economy is predicted to grow by 2.3 per cent this year, according to European Commission economic forecasts, while the euro area might only manage average real GDP growth of just 0.6 per cent.
