Hellenic Postbank to return to profitability in one year

Hellenic Postbank is apparently going to return to profitability in one year, while it will proceed with a voluntary retirement program covering 700 workers from a total of 3,000 currently employed, the management of the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund said on Wednesday. Haralambos Kyrkos, vice-president of the Fund, speaking to reporters, during a press conference, said that the voluntary retirement program will last for a period of one/two weeks and stressed that the management of the bank is going to consider any alternatives if the response to the program was not satisfactory.

Kyrkos said that a new Hellenic Postbank is expected to re-evaluate loans worth some 1.4 billion Euros “mainly mortgage loans" and its time deposit policy in view of current developments in the banking market (falling deposit interest rates and rising loan interest rates).

Generally, Greek banks opted to excessively raise deposit interest rates to halt a tide of capital outflows from the system, Kyrkos added.

The Fund's management said the troika has demanded that the Hellenic Postbank would be put for sale in the next six months, although the Fund's president Panagiotis Thomopoulos stressed that this timetable should be considered as a strict fact as no one can discount that an investor would emerge within this time.

Large Greek banks “potentially interested in buying a new Hellenic Postbank" were currently in merger procedures which did not allow them to easily proceed with the absorption of the bank. Thomopoulos said the troika could accept such serious reasons for delaying the sell process. He noted that the 50 billion euros earmarked for the recapitalization of Greek banks were adequate and said that banks have managed to cut their operating costs through cuts in wages and reduced workforce. (AMNA)