Bank runs in Greece (NBG and others)

How about with the change of government, if we get a default and a big haircut, that could well trigger the avalanche of withdrawal requests that topples the banking system there.

Also I have a question for anyone with knowledge of the Greek financial system - in a banking collapse, how do you execute transactions in Greek shares? Since all the brokers could go bust overnight. Would suck to see huge bargains and not be able to buy anything.
 
The Bloomberg / WSJ story about a decline in Greek deposits is gathering steam.

Here is a selection of articles discussing the subject:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/has-greek-bank-run-started
(could not find original Bloomberg source, however ZH was a few hours earlier than the WSJ article below)

"Greek Banks See EUR700 Million In Deposit Withdrawals"
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20120515-715578.html

"Greek Depositors Withdrew $898 Million From Banks Monday"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303505504577406310678151998.html?mod=wsj_share_tweet

http://www.cnbc.com/id/47434632/
 
Quote from m22au:

The Bloomberg / WSJ story about a decline in Greek deposits is gathering steam.



"Greek Banks See EUR700 Million In Deposit Withdrawals"
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20120515-715578.html

"Greek Depositors Withdrew $898 Million From Banks Monday"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303505504577406310678151998.html?mod=wsj_share_tweet

http://www.cnbc.com/id/47434632/
More...


They are done....classic run on the banks before their euro's are frozen and turned into worthless $$


It's coming to the US also just a matter of time.
 
Quote from m22au:

The Bloomberg / WSJ story about a decline in Greek deposits is gathering steam.

Here is a selection of articles discussing the subject:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/has-greek-bank-run-started
(could not find original Bloomberg source, however ZH was a few hours earlier than the WSJ article below)

"Greek Banks See EUR700 Million In Deposit Withdrawals"
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20120515-715578.html

"Greek Depositors Withdrew $898 Million From Banks Monday"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303505504577406310678151998.html?mod=wsj_share_tweet

http://www.cnbc.com/id/47434632/
More...

Is there any clarity on the exact period that those figures were taken out?There seems to be conflicting reports on that. If its since the election its not such a huge deal. If its monday specifically then the banks should be bankrupt pretty soon
 
Quote from Daal:

Is there any clarity on the exact period that those figures were taken out?There seems to be conflicting reports on that. If its since the election its not such a huge deal. If its monday specifically then the banks should be bankrupt pretty soon
More...

The ZH article (quoting Bloomberg) says says 700 million euros since the May 6 election, which is insignificant considering that
"in the past two years, deposit outflows have generally averaged between EUR2 billion and EUR3 billion per month" (WSJ).

However, the two WSJ articles specifically state that 700 million EUR was withdrawn on Monday, which as you state, would be significant.

Link to President Papoulias' web site
http://www.presidency.gr/
 
This blog article:

http://johngaltfla.com/wordpress/2012/05/15/the-1-024-billion-bank-run/

provides a link to this Protothema article
http://www.protothema.gr/news-in-english/article/?aid=197641
"The President’s dramatic plea for banks
Papoulias: 800 mil. euros have gone and tomorrow will be worse"

regarding the specific quotes from President Papoulias about disappearing bank deposits.

***

""There is great fear that can develop into panic. The strength of banks is limited." These are the dramatic words of the director of the Bank of Greece George Provopoulos to the President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias as he explained that on Monday, within a few hours almost 800 million euros were withdrawn from banks. Referring to today and tomorrow, Papoulias told the political leaders "in the next two days the situation will be worse".

<snip>

Papoulias’ words are indicative, thus we present the entire relevant part of the minutes:

KAROLOS PAPOULIAS (President of the Republic): I wish to welcome you. I have no intention of dramatizing the situation which you all know and which is indeed very difficult.

I had two interesting telephone conversations. One was with Barroso at 4 pm. They are anxiously awaiting the establishment of a government in Greece and the successful conclusion of all these efforts we are making together. The second conversation was with Provopoulos. The state of banks is very difficult. Withdrawals and outflow had already reached 700 million euros at 4 pm when we were on the phone, not including all those orders to turn deposits to German government bonds, etc. With them they calculate that the total amount would reach about 800 million.

FOTIS KOUVELIS (Democratic Left president): All together?

PAPOULIAS: Yes, all together.

Over the next two days the situation will be worse. Provopoulos told me that there is no panic, but a great fear that can develop into panic. He also said that the strength of banks is very limited at this time.

<snip>
 
For what it's worth, I've read once

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-15/greek-president-told-banks-anxious-as-deposits-pulled.html

"He said the European Central Bank needs to guarantee deposits held by the region’s lenders to guard against contagion."

and heard once (CNBC) in the last few hours that one possible "solution" that the powers-that-be could consider is a European-wide deposit guarantee, given that a Greek government guarantee (and maybe also Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Italy) is not credible.
 
Quote from m22au:

For what it's worth, I've read once

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-15/greek-president-told-banks-anxious-as-deposits-pulled.html

"He said the European Central Bank needs to guarantee deposits held by the region’s lenders to guard against contagion."

and heard once (CNBC) in the last few hours that one possible "solution" that the powers-that-be could consider is a European-wide deposit guarantee, given that a Greek government guarantee (and maybe also Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Italy) is not credible.
More...

Lots of these 'solutions' require the expectations of no solution existing. Which creates an edge being short risk assets till a panic point in which they will announce something
 
Updated figures on Greek bank withdrawals from FT:

"Greek banks see steady deposits outflow"

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3d588c2e-9f3c-11e1-a455-00144feabdc0.html

"Athens-based bankers said withdrawals exceeded €1.2bn on Monday and Tuesday - 0.75 per cent of deposits -"

"A senior Greek banker said on Wednesday that the experience of the past few days “gives rise to concern that withdrawals may accelerate”. Another banker said:”We are seeing something very unusual, customers breaking their time deposits in order to withdraw funds.”
 
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