July 15 2011
Referring to the release of the results of the “EU-wide stress tests” of the banking system, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos made the following statement:
The results of the EU-wide stress test of the European banking system that uses extreme theoretical scenarios and situations, is particularly favorable to the Greek banking system.
91 banks from the 27 EU member states took part in the stress tests, among which the six largest Greek banks that cover almost the entire banking sector, over 90%.
Our five banks are clearly over the threshold or near the threshold, merely a tenth of a percent away. Moreover, each of this data was “frozen” in April 2011, but in the meantime measures, recorded in the report, have been taken. Those measures are taken into consideration and constitute the final second column in which all banks are over the threshold. One of those, the Agricultural Bank of Greece, is state-owned and is under a restructuring programme, a privatization programme, and measures are being taken for its own capital reinforcement as well.
The criteria were particularly strict; they were extreme. And for the Greek banks they were even stricter, because Greek banks have to face the Greek sovereign debt crisis.
Therefore, Greek depositors and international investors can rest assured that the Greek banking system provides data in total transparency, it is stable, checked and certified according to the international and EU wide rules. But of course nobody can sit back. In cooperation with the Bank of Greece and the Greek banks, we will continue to take all the necessary preventive measures, because our confidence as a nation and our faith in our strength must also be reflected in the function and the prospects of the Greek banking system, a pillar for the country’s development. 
