Greek Bad Debt Rises Above 50% For The First Time, ECB Admits
It was almost exactly one year ago, on October 26, 2014, when the ECB concluded its latest European Stress Test. As had been pre-leaked, some 25 banks failed it, although the central bank promptly added that just €9.5 billion in net capital shortfall had been identified. What was more surprising is that to the ECB, the Greek banks – Alpha Bank, Eurobank Ergasias, National Bank of Greece, and PiraeusBank had entered Schrodinger bailout territory: they had both failed and passed the test at the same time. To wit:
These banks have a shortfall on a static balance sheet projection, but will have dynamic balance sheet projections (which have been performed alongside the static balance sheet assessment as restructuring plans were agreed with DG-COMP after 1 January 2014) taken into account in determining their final capital requirements. Under the dynamic balance sheet assumption, these banks have no or practically no shortfall taking into account net capital already raised.
Got that? According to the ECB, last October Greek banks may have failed the stress test, but under “dynamic conditions” they passed it. What this meant was unclear at the time, although as we explained this was nothing more than an attempt to boost confidence in Europe’s banking sector. This was the key quote from the ECB’s Vítor Constâncio: “This unprecedented in-depth review of the largest banks’ positions will boost public confidence in the banking sector. By identifying problems and risks, it will help repair balance sheets and make the banks more resilient and robust. This should facilitate more lending in Europe, which will help economic growth.”
It didn’t.
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