President of Greek Banks Association Louka Katseli appealed at the citiznes to return their money to the banks. “Banks are absolutely trustworthy,” Katseli told Mega TV “as guaranteed by the ECB and the Bank Association, but they would have been even more powerful if 40 billion euros had not been withdrawn in the last months.
Katseli, a former PASOK Minister, appealed to citizens to return their deposits to the banks “now that the banks are open” after a three-week holiday and capital controls.
“Let’s all help our economy,” Katseli urged Greeks and added “If you take your money out of your chests and houses – which are not safe in any case – and deposit at banks, this will enhance liquidity.”
“Τhere will be no need to “haircut” deposits in the future if we all act responsibly,” she added -cheerfully I suppose.
Katseli’s appeal triggered laughter among Greeks and one stressed with hint to capital controls “Oh yes! I will bring my money back to the bank and get it back 60 by 60 euro.”
Another one noted “Ah sure! Banks will never see my money again, I prefer to buy tones of peanuts with it.”
A third commented “Certainly. And the banks will go bust after a while…”
A fourth reckoned a very unfortunate incident in 2010 and busted into tears and laughter. Back then Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos had appealed to the Greeks to buy Greek bonds. The man invested 10,000 euro to help Greece. Two years later, his investment underwent a 53%-Haircut due to the PSI. Now the nominal value of his investment is …”I don’t even open the envelopes coming from the bank anymore, too frustrating,” he told me.
How can Greeks trust the banks after what has happened? Already many worry about their deposits as mergers of Greek banks are reportedly due. Even though they know that merger do not end in losing your money. Or does it? huh?