Greek banks have been given the go-ahead to hand out dividends for the first time since the sector was hammered in the financial crisis.
The European Central Bank (ECB) backed payouts to shareholders after 16 years.
Greece was one of the European countries worst affected by the financial crisis in 2008, which resulted in the state stepping in to bail out the banks.
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The emergency measure resulted in the country’s economy shrinking by a quarter.
Soaring unemployment and street protests added to the chaos and almost resulted in Greece leaving the eurozone.
The National Bank of Greece said yesterday that it plans to distribute £282.7m to shareholders. Alpha Bank will hand out £103.8m from 2023 profits – half as a cash dividend and the rest as a share buyback.
Piraeus Bank shareholders will get £67m and Eurobank will pay out £291m. Alpha Bank chief executive Vassilios Psaltis said that it was ‘the final stamp of approval for the bank’s full return to normality since the outburst of the financial crisis’.
It comes as banks have cut their non-performing exposure ratios – a measure of the lenders’ credit risk – to below 6pc from 45pc in 2016. They have also reduced state ownership and turned profitable.
Earlier this year Greece’s finance minister said the government will this year complete the sale of its outstanding stakes in five banks bailed out during the debt crisis.
The state recently sold its stake in three major banks, raising more almost £2bn.
The sale of a 27pc stake in Piraeus Bank was oversubscribed eight times.
Final distribution of the payouts needs to be approved by lenders’ shareholder meetings which are expected to take place in the summer.