Kasselakis on Attica Bank: I Support Public Interest Without Dependencies

SYRIZA-PS president Stefanos Kasselakis continues his recent criticism in light of developments at Attica Bank.

In a new post, he states, “Today, with systemic banks, following multiple recapitalizations with Greek taxpayer money, which have a nationwide presence, we don’t have competition but oligopoly conditions,” adding, “They cannot invoke competition while supporting every kind of cartel.”

Detailed post:

A non-paper is circulating that tries to “respond” to the clear issues we raise about the Attica Bank deal, with an innovative model of “bank populism.”

You know I will always look you in the eyes and tell you the truth. So let’s respond to the non-paper about the private bank with Greek taxpayer money:

Not only do we want competition, but we also want to attract new capital to create new systemic and, importantly, non-systemic banks.

Today, robust systemic banks, following multiple recapitalizations with Greek taxpayer money, which have a nationwide presence, we don’t have competition but oligopoly conditions, evidenced by the highest loan interest rates in the Eurozone (excluding the Baltics) and the largest spread between deposit and loan interest rates. Additionally, the smallest loan-to-deposit ratio in the Eurozone is 57% compared to 102%.

Only the non-paper author knows how the arrival of the consolidated bank resulting from the merger of Attica Bank and Pancretan will change this.

Today, only 35,000 businesses out of 700,000, or 5%, are financed. How will this change with the merger of Attica Bank and Pancretan? Can the government guarantee how many more SMEs will be financed? Or should banking credit criteria change to make more businesses bankable?

We have repeatedly heard the Mitsotakis government, first with Mr. Staikouras who “blasted” them with insults, and then with Mr. Hatzidakis who recently remembered his legislative role, mock the public as charges keep increasing.

I support the public interest without dependencies, something foreign to the Mitsotakis government. They cannot invoke competition while supporting every kind of cartel. Under New Democracy, all foreign banks have disinvested (HSBC, Citi) without any new direct investment from strong capital to boost the shrinking banking market.

There was never a condition where finding a strategic investor involved a loss of 800 million euros for the state to hold only 33%, while the strategic investor held 51% by investing 300 million euros. The state, with its own invested capital and the bank cleaned up, could attract other institutional investors.

The HFSF’s participation in Attica Bank’s capital increases proves the opposite: There is no issue with bailouts. We want the state to take the majority stake, as befits the 800 million euros it places, as common sense dictates.

Absolutely nothing, as the state, through the HFSF, supports capital and through Hercules III with 2 billion euros in guarantees from the Greek state, the cleaning up of non-performing loan portfolios of both banks.

We have no issue with cleaning up the banks. We have an issue with the lack of transparency and the squandering of public resources. There isn’t just one solution, that of harming the Greek state as the Mitsotakis government usually does.

There will be no billion-euro loss if the state places a cumulative 800 million euros and takes its rightful share. The scaremongering does not hold for those who know the precise data.

There is no evidence of this. What is evident is that the involved parties are doing everything possible to harm the Greek state with minimal personal involvement. Will there be official answers from the Ministry of Finance and the HFSF on this?

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