Christina Papanikolopoulou, partner, head of our Finance & Capital Markets team, moderated a panel on the Greek Banking Sector “Strategy & Sector Outlook” in the 21st Annual Capital Link "Invest In Greece" Forum "Greece is Back", held in New York on 9 December 2019. The panel was joined by CEOs of the Greek systemic banks & ECB representatives discussing developments in a transforming sector, reshaped in the last few years as a new financial industry with banks, investors, servicers and debtors as stakeholders (as opposed to a strict bank-debtor market up until 2017). Our moderator and panelists sought to show how decisive government initiatives and bank driven strategic transformations will work as catalyst for NPL deleveraging to accelerate further reduction of NPL ratio from current 45.4% against a European average of 4%. With more than 20 NPL transactions in 3 years and new law on the tracks, Greek banks leave the NPL burden behind in the wake of a new era of lending normality, where sustainability, digitalization and innovation will redefine the interaction of credit institutions with the real economy.
The Capital Link Invest in Greece Forum is an international summit promoting business opportunities in the Greek economy; this year’s summit was a great success, with top representatives from major US investors, global investment banks, European institutions and the Greek government front-lining the conference along with key players of the Greek economy, including all systemic banks, large corporates and institutions. With more than 1,000 participants and discussions covering all aspects of the Greek business environment, the summit attested its own title for 2019, that “Greece is back” indeed.
Zepos & Yannopoulos was proud sponsor of the event.