Investors are measuring the impact of the war on banks

The opportunities, but also the challenges that the future holds, in the shadow of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, were mentioned by executives of the investment world, in the context of the Moneyreview Banking Summit.

THE Christian Kopf, Head of Fixed Income and Foreign Exchange Markets at Union Investment, stressed that the evaluation of Greece has been upgraded, talking about positive initiatives by the government. As he said, “for us, Greece is a big bet”, adding that conscious investments are being made. He described as exceptional the fact that Greece has access to the markets. As for the challenges for the future, he stood at the end of the ECB program and the developments in Ukraine, although he clarified that there is no reason for Union Investmen to withdraw from the Greek bond market, adding that he wants to invest large sums. He also said that there are big players who want to buy Greek bonds, while he expressed the assessment that there will be a demand for green Greek bonds.

UBS

THE George Katsikas, CEO of UBS, noted that banks are now coming out stronger in terms of their capital. As he said, the capital adequacy remains strong in all the banks, which are in a good position to finance the country’s economy in the coming years. Of course, as he stressed, there are also challenges related to external factors, such as geopolitical turmoil, energy, but also the fear of stagnant inflation. At the same time, he stressed that there are challenges related to the banks themselves. As he noted, it is crucial for banks to use technology to reduce their costs. Mr. Katsikas said that the current situation has affected the financial markets, but added that Greek banks do not have much exposure in Russia, although the vulnerability has increased. Concluding, he said he was optimistic about the course of the Greek banks when there will be news from the war front.

Bain Capital

For his part George Elekidis, director of Bain Capital Credit, noted that in recent years we have seen a series of crises, from capital controls to the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. As he said, the energy crisis and inflation have a direct impact on the operating costs of businesses. He pointed out that Bain Capital Credit is more careful and conservative in assessing the viability of projects, but stressed that “we are always constructive in assessing the opportunities that arise.” As for the real estate market, he said that the cost of energy affects new projects, with the result that investors are likely to re-evaluate some of their projects.