The Chairman of the Hellenic Bank Association (HBA) Board of Directors, Mr. Nikolaos Karamouzis, the Vice-Chairmen Mr. Georgios Handjinicolaou, Mr. Costas Michaelides, Mr. Vasileios Rapanos and the Secretary General of the HBA, Mrs. Charoula Apalagaki, held this year a series of meetings with EU Commissioners and senior officials.

HBA initially met in Brussels on Friday, September 21, 2018 with the Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources, Mr. Günther H. Oettinger and the Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, Mr. Pierre Moscovici, the Director General of the Council responsible for Economic Affairs and Competitiveness, Mr. Carsten Pillath and the Deputy Director General and Press Spokesperson of the European Commission, Mr. Margaritis Schinas.

During the meetings, discussions centered around the improvement of the economic and investment climate and prospects of the Greek economy, as well as the progress achieved by the banking sector in recent years towards its return to regularity. These positive developments were also confirmed by Greece's recent exit from the macroeconomic adjustment programs, after eight (8) years of major economic and social cost, the implementation of important structural reforms and the correction of the significant macroeconomic imbalances that led Greece to the crisis. It was also stressed, however, that significant problems and challenges remain, which require the continuation of structural reforms, fiscal stability and growth initiatives. In that regard, the establishment of an attractive environment for productive and investment incentives is necessary, in order to attract significant foreign capital for the country to return to a solid and viable growth path and to recover fully its credibility and markets’ confidence.

HBA informed its interlocutors about the positive developments in the Greek banking sector, following a long-lasting crisis, mainly consisting the significant improvement in liquidity conditions, the accelerated return of deposits and credit institutions’ -almost total- abatement of lending dependency from the Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA). Improved conditions in the Greek banking sector encompass credit institutions’ easier market access, strengthening capital adequacy and corporate governance, meeting the objectives of reducing non-performing exposures (NPEs), as well as the successful completion restructuring programs by the end of 2018 – developments that have been accompanied by a significant legislative and institutional modernization in the banking sector framework during the past years. Particular mention was also made as regards the need to conform the national legal framework on corporate governance to the rules that apply at EU level as well as the setting of the process for the banking sector’s total disengagement from state support.

The HBA will continue to assume initiatives, formulate proposals, inform and collaborate with institutions both domestically and overseas, towards the steady improvement of conditions in the Greek banking sector, the return to regularity and the unimpeded financing of the domestic economy, given the fact that the overall improvement of prospects in the Greek economy and the recovery of the country's credibility is a matter of mutual concern.