Recent Developments and Future Challenges

The last chapter of this book discusses a number of recent events that affected the Greek banks during 2011 and posed great challenges for the future. Within this context, Section 10.2 provides an overview of the financial results and stock performance during the first months of 2011. This is followed by discussions of the downgrade of the banks’ credit ratings (Section 10.3), the results of the EU-wide stress testing exercise (Section 10.4) and the restructuring of the banking sector (Sections 10.5 and 10.6). Finally, Section 10.7 provides an overview of the future challenges that arise from the exposure of banks to Greek government bonds, the developments in the business and macroeconomic environment, the exposure to South-eastern European countries and the forthcoming changes in the regulatory framework.