Eurobank results point to Greek bank recovery

Eurobank’s full-year results for 2016 suggest the Greek banking sector is making measurable progress in its journey back to health.

In presenting the results in late March, Fokion Karavias, CEO, Eurobank, highlighted “the first profitable and capital accretive year for Eurobank since the eruption of the Greek sovereign crisis” with net profit of €230 million as against losses of €1.2bn in 2015.

Net fee and commission income grew by 22.2% year on year, while total operating income increased by 17.1% year on year to €2.06 billion.

In mid-March, Danièle Nouy, the European Central Bank (ECB) supervisory board chair, told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA) that, “There has been a significant improvement in the situation of Greek banks, both in terms of capital adequacy and governance.”

Greece’s banks have struggled since the country received significant bailouts from the European Union following its sovereign debt crisis. Fears the country could default and even drop out of the euro single currency have deterred businesses from Greece in recent years.