BlackRock stress test findings out this Friday
US firm BlackRock Solutions will deliver the findings of its stress tests on the loan portfolios of local banks in Greece and abroad to the Bank of Greece on Friday.
As soon as the report is submitted, the central bank will determine each lender’s final capital requirements, having first calculated their provisions, operating profits, capacity to find money from restructuring moves (selling subsidiaries, deleveraging etc), and synergies from the numerous mergers conducted. With the Core Tier I ratio serving as the main criterion for each bank, the final report by the BoG will be issued by end-December.
Local lenders are not overly worried about the BlackRock findings, but expect Greece’s creditors to allow for Greek banks to have the same Core Tier I requirement as other eurozone lenders – i.e. 8 percent – instead of the 9 percent level that they need to have according to Greece’s bailout agreement. If that happens, bank officials told Kathimerini that all domestic lenders will pass even the worst-case test scenario.
