All things being equal, the Greek banking sector should be healthy. The four largest locally owned banks compete on a relatively level playing field with several smaller foreign-owned players. There are no giant or state-owned banks distorting and squeezing competition as in the UK, nor is the sector fragmented among smaller, inefficient banks as in Germany.
Before the financial crisis, the business model for most Greek banks had been highly conservative at home. "Unlike those in other countries, Greek banks did not cause the financial crisis - they are its victims," says Gikas Hardouvelis, chief economist of Eurobank EFG Group, one of Greece's 'big four'.
