ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the historical evolution and structure of the Greek banking system, focusing on institutional arrangements which defined its standing at the time of reform. It describes the Greek banking system in a European and South-European comparative context in order to highlight similarities with other 'adjusting' financial systems. The chapter outlines the postwar credit policies, and a more detailed account of the evolution of banking deregulation from the second half of the 1980s until its completion in the early 1990s. The contemporary Greek banking system evolved in parallel with the modern independent Greek state. By the late 1980s and early 1990s South-European governments had begun to retreat from controlling the ownership and administration of banks. By the middle and end of the 1980s state-controlled banks displayed important organizational weaknesses such as lack of adequate qualified personnel, low incentives for productivity and poor career prospects for employees.