Tourkolias: Banks ready to start funding shipping again

National Bank of Greece chief executive Alexandros Tourkolias on Wednesday confirmed Greek banks’ return to the financing of the shipping industry.

“Greek lenders are determined to support the Greek oceangoing shipping sector,” Tourkolias said at an Athens event under the auspices of Cass Business School in London, adding that this has now become possible thanks to the fact that the local credit system has secured its stability.

He did warn, however, that the new regulatory framework is particularly tight and that all European banks must learn to function under common European monitoring in the next three years.

Tourkolias also said that Greek banks aim to create revenues through the issue of loans for new activities in oceangoing shipping. “Today we have the capital adequacy and the liquidity, so the question now is revenues,” he told a shipping financing panel.

(by Nikos Roussanoglou & Ilias Bellos, ekathimerini.com)