Investors trapped in bank stocks
Social security funds, mutual funds, foundations, hospitals, the Church of Greece and thousands of bank shareholders are finding themselves in a difficult position due to the crumbling of bank stock prices.
In the last four years the sector has seen its stock prices decline by over 95 percent, with institutional investors suffering losses totaling some 15 billion euros.
In October 2007 the stock value of the four main banks (National, Eurobank EFG, Alpha and Piraeus) came to 60 billion euros, while their capitalization today stands at just 2.5 billion.
There are numerous social security funds and other institutional investors which have invested everything in Greek equities.
