by George Georgakopoulos
ATHENS, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- Fitch Ratings, an American credit rating agency, sets a positive outlook for four Greek banks on Thursday, following the upgrade of Greek debt and a credit rating raised to investment grade.
The move reflects Fitch's view that the credit rating recovery will benefit the operating environment of Greek banks by improving the country's business climate and supporting banks to increase their turnover without compromising their risk profiles.
Greek banks underwent three recapitalizations in just a few years amid the debt crisis that forced the Eurozone member into three successive bailouts by international creditors between 2010 and 2015.
After the signing of the first bailout agreement between Greece, its fellow members of the Eurozone and the International Monetary Fund in 2010, Greece set up a special purpose vehicle, the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF), aimed at stabilizing the credit market through bank mergers and state funding in exchange for shares in the country's four systemic banks.
The four systemic banks absorbed smaller lenders or the local operations of foreign banks that departed from Greece due to the crisis.
Throughout this process, Greece spent over 30 billion euros (about 33 billion U.S. dollars) to prevent a bail-in scenario where nearly half of bank deposits exceeding 100,000 euros were confiscated to keep the banking sector alive.
Last month, the National Bank of Greece, a commercial lender, had 22 percent of its shares transferred via the stock market from the state to private investors and another systemic lender. Eurobank, one of the four systemic banks in Greece, became the first lender to become fully private among Greece's four main lenders earlier this year.
National Economy and Finance Minister Kostis Hatzidakis said in a written statement after National's transaction last month that this was "the most successful transaction of the last three years in the European Union regarding the demand expressed and the minimizing of the discount in the offer price."
Hatzidakis said the upgrade shows that the financial crisis is over and constitutes a source of optimism for the banking system and the Greek economy.
Not everyone agrees, though. Political Economy Professor at the University of Athens, Nikos Theocarakis, told Xinhua that the crisis in Greece is far from over, stressing that the concession of the shares was a great loss for the state.
"I don't know why (the HFSF) decided to take the exit option and give the shares to private shareholders. In no other case where, due to the crisis, the shares of banks have been assumed by a public organization, have we had a huge loss. The amount of loss (for Greece) was exceptional. It is about 30 billion (euros)," he said.■
