Among the large -profile ratings from the upgrading of the Greek economy by the Credit Evaluation Houses, with the latest S&P, will be the Greek banks and their assets.

Banks have a significant liquidity that is reinforced, among other things by the upgrades of the evaluation agencies, giving more rooms for more loans to businesses and individuals.

Upgrades from the rating agencies have lifted an obstacle that prevents capital administrators from holding Greek banks in their portfolios.

For banks, upgrades are translated into improved funding conditions, interest rate cost savings in future Mrel (demand for equity and eligible liabilities) and improving the quality of their securities portfolios, which consist mainly of Greek bond titles.

Also in the long run, Greek banks will be more fortified in any financial crises, as their liquidity will be guaranteed due to their ECB bonds’ eligibility. Banks have lower funding costs and improved liquidity as they can borrow from the ECB with government bond guarantees valued at their true value.

Upgrading the public credit rating also upgrades the debt of banks, which can be borrowed at lower interest rates from the interbank market. Cheaper lending to banks means equally cheap loan for businesses and households.

Greek banks are significantly covering their financial needs by issuing bonds on the international market. They are now raising funds in favorable terms as early as 2023 and another tendency to reduce their interest rates in all versions in which they are proceeding. The reason is the recovery of the Greek economy that was followed by banks and then the ECB’s interest rate reductions.

Since April 2023 and the upgrade from S&P then, the interest rates on their high -profile bond priority have reduced, on average, about 440 basis points.

The average efficiency for the new versions of high -profile bond priority (Senior) has decreased to 4.3%.

In the Investment Chart Indicators of Greek Banks Bonds

An important investment opportunity is identified by Barclays in Greek banks and especially in Senior Preferred bonds, as the ratings of rating agencies has made many of them eligible to international investment rates. At the same time, it emphasizes Greece’s powerful macroeconomic environment and the fundamental sizes of banks, while noting that Greek banks are less sensitive to tariff and geopolitical risks than other banks in Europe.

As Barclays points out, the underpinning of Greek banks’ bonds is in no way justified by the macroeconomic environment of Greece or the fundamental sizes of banks.

Barclays had pointed out last year that the big Greek banks are rising candidates for integration in investment rating indicators such as Bloomberg IG Index. Upgrading from S&P in January 2025 for the National Bank and Eurobank from BB+ to BBB- also brought the curves of their Senior Preferred bonds to the Investment Grade Index, that is, all their securities have now joined the IG index.

Since then, Moody’s has followed S&P’s footsteps, with further upgrades of Greek systemic banks in March 2025, due to the upgrading of Greece’s credit rating to BAA3 and the investment level, from BA1 before. National and Eurobank were upgraded to BAA1 by BAA2, as they were previously confined to the country’s credit rating.

Meanwhile, Alpha Bank and Piraeus Bank were upgraded by one level from BAA3 to BAA2. Alpha Bank’s prospects were the only ones that remained positive due to the further expected improvements of individual fundamental elements.

Fitch upgraded the National Bank and Eurobank to BBB- from BB+, so these two banks have an investment rating from the three largest ratings.

BoG: Significant benefit of businesses from public and bank upgrades

The upgrades of the Greek and Greek banks, with the most recent Moody’s and DBRS, have greatly benefited Greek businesses issuing bonds, according to a report by the Bank of Greece (Note on the Greek Economy).

Bond publications from large Greek companies were overflowed in 2024 at 2.1 billion. Euro from € 600 million in 2023, while the cost of borrowing is close to the eurozone businesses with BBB-(investment level).

The yields of Greek corporate bonds have increased significantly less than the eurozone’s respective yields of the eurozone (investment level).

The yields of high -profile Greek banks’ bonds have increased somewhat lately, but those of other eurozone banks have increased significantly.