The Governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus, Christodoulos Patsalides, has expressed the certainty that Cypriot banks will be the catalyst for the promoted Savings and Investment Union, emphasising - among other things - that the promotion of investment products will generate commissions for the banks.
In his intervention during a recent roundtable discussion organised by the Central Bank with the participation of the Governor of the Bank of Greece, Yannis Stournaras, and responding to a relevant comment by the moderator of the discussion, Patsalides indicated that "with regard to the participation of banks in the Savings and Investments Union, I believe that it will be positive."
As he explained, "first of all (the banks) have enormous liquidity and therefore they do not feel that they will lose deposits and therefore they will not want to not cooperate in promoting investment products."
Secondly, he added, the very promotion of investment products generates commissions for banks and is something they will pursue.
Additionally, he continued, "We now have developed foreign banks that are also in the form of digital banks, which very easily offer investment products through digital banking, and if we do not respond as a country, then you will lose customers who make these investments and you are not ready to offer them."
Therefore, Patsalides estimated, "I believe that Cypriot banks will be a catalyst in this direction."
Yannis Stournaras: Why Greece and Cyprus want the Union to move forward
On his part, the Governor of the Bank of Greece said that "indeed, Greece and Cyprus are two countries that are different from the rest of Europe."
As he explained, "In the rest of Europe, there are more savings than investments. We have fewer, which is why we have high deficits in the current account balance."
Therefore, he stressed, "Greece and Cyprus have an additional reason to want the Savings and Investment Union to move forward, not only for investments, but also for savings, because we need more savings."
It is noted that the roundtable discussion with the Governors of the Central Bank and the Bank of Greece was coordinated by Professor Andreas Milidonis of the University of Cyprus.
The entire discussion can be viewed, in Greek, in the video below:
