Recent financial crisis and business perspective of Greek bank subsidiaries in Serbia

Abstract

Greece was one of the Eurozone countries that was hit the hardest by the crisis and there is a real threat that the risk overflow from the Greece home markets could have negative consequences on the activities of their subsidiaries in Serbia since they account for 14% of total assets of the banking sector in Serbia. The initial reasons for entering the Serbian market were versatile, the most important ones being the high interest margins, untapped debt potential of the corporate and retail sectors and a search for new clients. The data about the performance of Greek bank subsidiaries are mixed. The ROAA and ROAE data show that they are below average, but had a positive trend before the crisis. On the other hand, the data on the net interest margin (NIM) show that before crisis the Greek subsidiaries had NIM above the industry average. After the crisis, the NIM decreased, but most of the banks are still above the average. Negative profitability figures mean that a bank is unable to generate income (net interest income or other operating income) to the level necessary to cover the expenses, even though the NIM of Greek bank subsidiaries is above the banking sector average.