Call to lower tax rate for banks
A tax cut for Greek banks is necessary to bring the industry in line with the financial services sector in Southeastern Europe, the president of the Hellenic Bank Association (HBA), Takis Arapoglou, said yesterday. Arapoglou, who presented a HBA report on the Greek banking system to parliament yesterday, underlined to lawmakers that Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus are among the countries that have already lowered the tax rate applicable on their respective financial service operations to below 20 percent. «Today Greek banks pay income tax of 25 percent,» said Arapoglou, who also heads the country’s largest lender, National Bank. «I believe that a reduction in the tax rate, a trend already seen in most European Union member states, must also be introduced in our country,» he added. Greek banks, present in 15 countries, have been one of the economy’s strongest growing sectors in recent years, boosted by strong domestic loan growth and expansion abroad. The sector’s six largest players – National, Eurobank, Alpha, Piraeus, Emporiki and ATEbank – maintained an overall international network of almost 3,000 branches at the end of last year. The sector has recently undergone restructuring with the entry of a number of foreign players. French lender Credit Agricole and insurance group AXA were among the most recent entrants to Greece. Alpha Bank, the country’s third-largest lender, also announced last week that Paramount Services Holding Limited, «a company representing the business interests of the most prominent family in Qatar,» had bought a 4 percent stake for 296 million euros. «(These changes) indicates that the international market views the Greek economy as a financial center for Southeastern Europe,» HBA said in its report. The industry, however, remains highly concentrated, with two-thirds of the market controlled by the five largest lenders. [email protected]
