Galery

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The final form of the "map" of the Greek banking market after the buying and merging of banks in recent months has radically changed the situation regarding the protection of depositors and the first 100,000 euro of their deposits.

According to the rules of operation of the Hellenic Deposit and Investment Guarantee Fund, the first 100,000 euro of each individual person in each bank are protected.

In the case of joint accounts, the balance of the deposit will be equally allocated among the two account holders and each of them will be protected to the amount of the first 100,000 euro held by him or her.

Mergers

In recent months, however, things have gone wrong a little after a wave of bank mergers and bailouts followed the Greek debt haircut.

Some clients saw how their savings had been transferred overnight to another bank within the context of the restructuring of the system whereas other depositors have found out that they already have relations with another financial institution due to the purchase of the bank in which they held their money.

These changes have a direct impact on the degree of protection of depositors by the Hellenic Deposit and Investment Guarantee Fund which, however, has announced that it guarantees the first 100,000 euro deposited by an individual person in each bank.

The effects of consolidation

Based on this rule, many depositors had allocated their money among two or more banks to protect their deposits.

This tactic, however, may prove pointless due to the merging of banks. It is not possible to accurately determine at a glimpse or on the basis of the name of the bank the protection offered.

The key is in the presence or absence of a separate banking licence.

In particular, the protection of the first 100,000 euro applies to each bank which holds a separate licence for banking activities in Greece rather than to every brand.

Protection provided by banks

In this sense, the following banks that offer protection for the first 100,000 euro of the deposits of each client hold the specific licence:

1. Aegean Baltic Bank

2. Alpha Bank

3. Attica Bank

4. Geniki Bank

5. The National Bank

6. Credicom

7. Investment Bank of Greece

8. Panellinia Bank

9. New Proton Bank

10. New Post Bank

11. EuroBank - Ergasias

12. Millennium Bank

13. Piraeus Bank

14. Cretan Cooperative Bank Ltd.

15. Cooperative Bank - Drama Ltd.

16. Cooperative Bank - Western Macedonia Ltd.

17. Cooperative Bank - Dodecanese Ltd.

18. Cooperative Bank - Evros Ltd.

19. Cooperative Bank - Evia Ltd.

20. Cooperative Bank - Epirus Ltd.

21. Cooperative Bank - Thessaly Ltd.

22. Cooperative Bank - Karditsa Ltd.

23. Cooperative Bank - Peloponnese Ltd.

24. Cooperative Bank - Pieria Ltd.

25. Cooperative Bank - Serres Ltd.

26. Cooperative Bank - Chania Ltd.

27. Bank of America N.A.

28. Bank Saderat Iran

29. Kedr Closed Joint Stock Company Commercial Bank

30 . T.C. Ziraat Bankasi A.S

Examples

Each of these banks is considered as a separate entity in the system of protection of deposits.

As can be seen, the Hellenic Deposit and Investment Guarantee Fund still perceives Post Bank and Proton Bank as individual banks and they in turn offer protection of the deposits of their clients although they belong 100% to Eurobank.

Conversely, the three Cypriot banks (Piraeus Bank, ATEBank and Bank of Cyprus) have been deleted from the "map" and the Fund perceives them as one bank, namely the Bank of Piraeus which, a few months ago, acquired the Greek network of the other two banks.

Here are three typical examples:

Α) A client has deposited 100,000 euro in Piraeus Bank, 50,000 euro in ATEBank and 30,000 euro in the Bank of Cyprus

In this case, all his money is in the accounts of the same banking group. Therefore, the Hellenic Deposit and Investment Guarantee Fund protects only the first 100,000 euro of his deposit which amounts to 180,000 euro.

B) A client has deposited 100,000 euro in Eurobank and 100,000 euro in Post Bank

According to the Hellenic Deposit and Investment Guarantee Fund, they are two separate financial institutions as they hold a separate banking licence.

Therefore, in this case, the deposits of this client are protected to their full amount of 200,000 euro.

C) A client holds 100,000 euro in Piraeus Bank, 80,000 euro in GenikiBank, 50,000 euro in Millennium Bank and 90,000 euro in Alpha Bank.

All these banks are operating under a separate licence even though they belong to the same financial group which means that the Hellenic Deposit and Investment Guarantee Fund protects the first 100,000 euro of each client.

Therefore, the depositor in this example is fully protected as his savings in each of these banks do not exceed 100,000 euro.