Greek deposits shrink by 21pc
GREECE’S biggest banks have lost over a fifth of their deposits over the last year, it emerged yesterday, as Eurobank EFG and Alpha Bank reported losses for the first quarter of 2012 and a worsening in the quality of their loanbooks.
Adding their data on customer deposits to that of Piraeus Bank and National Bank of Greece, shows that total deposits for the four banks have shrunk from €174bn in March last year to €138bn in March this year.
In the first quarter of this year, they shrank by 3.3 per cent in aggregate, but most banks noted that while deposits had been improving this year, they started to decline following the inconclusive election results in early March. It is not yet clear how much money has left the banks since the end of March, because the results only go up to 31 March.
And the figures also disguise the true extent of how much money has left Greece, because they include overseas subsidiaries, but nonetheless paint a grim picture of declining customer confidence.