By Irini Sakellari

 

Greek banks focused on taking advantage of the current conditions and the success story during the second day of the Morgan Stanley conference held in London. It is worth noting that each of the four systemic banks had more than 40 B2B meetings.

 

Investor participation was up 30% and the climate was the most bullish that analysts and bank representatives have encountered. There was a lot of interest regarding privatizations, especially in Piraeus Bank and National Bank, while the dividend distribution also dominated talks. This coincided with the HFSF report on Greek banks’ stress tests, which absolutely justify the dividend distribution.

 

The story of Piraeus Bank is what investors were focused on, as it has not been clarified whether the entire 27% that the HFSF owns in the bank will be sold directly or this percentage will be broken into smaller shares. As far as the National Bank is concerned, the extremely successful issue gave a big boost to the Athens stock market, which is also waiting for the privatization of another percentage of the bank in the new year.

 

On the other hand, Eurobank focuses on growth in foreign markets. The representation of the Mid Cups was also very strong, mainly due to the strong cooperation of the brokers with Morgan Stanley, which allowed these companies to show their potential.

 

The investment grade is a game changer, however, the leverage that existed prior to its performance has not been exhausted and many investors continue to invest.

 

Speaking at the same conference, Piraeus Bank CEO Christos Megalou said that net credit expansion will be strengthened in 2024 thanks to the strong growth rate of the economy and European resources, which are estimated to exceed 60 billion euros by 2027.