Greek Finance: savers in Greek Banks and tourists

The purposes of this article is to facilitate sharing of information to anyone who may be shortly travelling to Greece

The Chancellor of the Exchequer made a statement to the House of Commons on the situation in Greece on 29th June which may be read in Hansard.

At the time of the statement:

"The four largest Greek banks, Alpha Bank, Eurobank, National Bank of Greece and Piraeus, all have branches here. Their UK balance sheets are small: between them, their deposits total less than £225 million. Resolution and supervision of those branches is the responsibility of the Greek and EU authorities. Protection of depositors is solely the responsibly of the Greek authorities. All four branches are open today"

"There is one Greek bank with a subsidiary in the UK—Alpha Bank. It is a standalone entity that is separate from its parent bank. It is small, with assets of slightly more than half a billion pounds, it is regulated by the Bank of England, and customers can be assured that their deposits are covered by the UK’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme" **** For deposits in the UK based Alpha Bank only, see the announcement by the Prudential Regulation Authority on 3rd July...

"Thirdly, there are 40,000 British residents in Greece, including 6,000 receiving payments from the Department for Work and Pensions and about 300 receiving public sector pension payments........."

"International payments into Greece are exempt from the restrictions that the Greek authorities have placed on the banking system. That means that UK Government payments, including state pension and public service pension payments, should be permitted, and I can confirm that those payments will continue to be made in the usual way. However, the situation remains fast-moving and uncertain, and we will keep it under constant review. I recognise that people may be concerned. I have asked the Department for Work and Pensions and public service pensions administrators to attempt to contact people who draw a British state or public sector pension from a Greek bank account. Those people will be helped to switch their payments to a non-Greek bank account if they wish."

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Greek residents are currently able to use on-line banking for payment of bills internal to Greece but cannot use electronic transfer out of the country third parties

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Permalink Reply by Donald Smith on July 7, 2015 at 16:01

The Chancellor of the Exchequer made a second statement on the situation on Greece on 6th July 2015. The content of the speech may be read here at column 35 (4.10pm)

We are also acting to protect British residents and holidaymakers in Greece. Last week, I told the House that the Department for Work and Pensions and public service pension administrators had started contacting Greek residents who draw a British state pension or public sector pension from a Greek bank account. I can now confirm that the DWP has spoken to 2,000 people, advising them on how to switch payments to non-Greek bank accounts if they wish. It has now enabled people in Greece who receive a UK state pension to set up a UK bank account if they do not already have one. International payments into Greece are still exempt from the restrictions that the Greek authorities have placed on the banking system, so I can confirm today that UK Government payments, including state pension and public service pension payments, will continue to be made in the usual way.