Lo metto anche qui per gli speculoni che hanno postato i perpetuals delle banche greche... La situazione delle banche potrebbe creare problemi addizionali e tuttavia la dipendenza dalla liquidità della BCE è piuttosto bassa ed i conti correnti sono la fonte di funding ampiamente prevalente, con percentuali comprese fra l'80% ed il 100% per le maggiori banche...
Fitch: Greek Banks Challenged by Move Away from ECB Funding
22 Jan 2010 6:10 AM (EST) Fitch Ratings-London/Barcelona-22 January 2010: Fitch Ratings says in a comment published today that major Greek banks' reliance on European Central Bank (ECB) funding, amid a gradual withdrawal of exceptional liquidity support measures and potential changes in ECB collateral rules, will make rebalancing the banks' funding mix more difficult and could lead to negative rating pressure in the medium-term.
"Greek banks, particularly those with greater reliance on ECB funding, face the challenge to substitute this with more traditional funding sources, such as customer deposits, debt issuances or commercial interbank repos, and to improve their overall liquidity position. Inability to do so could add downward rating pressure on top of existing issues such as worsening asset quality and deteriorating profitability," says Cristina Torrella, Director in Fitch's Financial Institutions team.
"On a positive note, systemically important banks benefit from sound domestic retail franchises - which support a relatively large deposit base - and capacity to access wholesale markets when appetite for Greek bank debt returns to historical levels," adds Ms Torrella.
Fitch says Greek banks continue to be primarily funded by customer deposits (86% of gross loans on average for the five largest banks at end-Q309, ranging from around 80% to close to 100%).
However, difficult wholesale markets and fierce competition in deposit-taking, particularly in Q408 and Q109, as well as the possibility of profitable carry trades between cheap ECB funding and relatively high-yielding Greek government bonds, led the banks to increase ECB funding (8.5% of total system assets at end-November 2009).
Fitch views with less concern the major Greek banks' funding and liquidity position in the short-term, given limited wholesale maturities in 2010, significant slowdown in loan growth, which is being mostly funded by customer deposits, recent debt issuance by some of the largest Greek banks and the relatively moderate amount of unsecured interbank funding from foreign banks.
The comment, entitled "Greek Banks and ECB Funding - Too Much of a Good Thing?" is available on
FitchResearch.