Greece’s four largest banks – Piraeus Bank, National Bank, Alpha Bank and Eurobank – are confident that they will survive the European Central Bank’s (ECB)  stress tests. These four banks control 90% of the national banking industry.

Results of the ECB’s tests will be announced on October 26. Greek banks will have to present their strategies that are dependant on the exact amount of capital they will need.
Sources state that Alpha Bank and Piraeus Bank and possibly the National Bank will show that they have zero capital needs whereas the same sources state that Eurobank may need 400 million euros. The initial estimations were higher before profits and capital plans were subtracted to original amounts.

The conversion of the banks’ deferred tax asset (DTA) to tax credit that was ratified in Parliament recently will see the banks’ capital shortfalls significantly slashed. Selling assets and proceeding with small scale capital increases should be enough to help the banks address their needs.

Banking sources state that the banks will do anything they can to avoid using a capital buffer from the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund that currently stands at 11.5 billion euros.