Who will get the most loans from banks in 2022

By Leonidas Stergiou

Businesses, mainly large and in sectors where deals are launched and are involved in investment projects due to the Development Fund and privatization program, will raise most of the bank lending this year. In fact, the demand of the first quarter and the data of the five months show that the business credit is moving towards the ceilings of the targets set for 2022 by the banks, in terms of lending.

The branches

The leading sectors are energy, transport, construction, tourism, manufacturing, shipping and real estate. Significant mobility is observed in areas where business transactions are underway, such as food, telecommunications. But also the infrastructure, which is favored in parallel by the Recovery Fund and the privatization program.

These findings come from the data provided by the heads of the four systemic banks during the presentation of the results of the first quarter to international analysts. They provided information on the trends prevailing in the five months and the forecasts for the year.

To date, the goals

According to these figures, new loans to the entire private sector will exceed 10 billion euros, with large companies absorbing almost 6.5-8.5 billion euros, the smaller amount 1.5-1 , 8 billion euros and households, freelancers and sole proprietors almost 2 billion euros.

Already, net credit expansion (new loans less repayments and securitizations) exceeded 3 billion euros in the first quarter, mainly due to business credit. In fact, demand in the first quarter and the course until mid-May led Alpha Bank to revise its target for loans, while the rest still maintain the ceiling, despite the unfavorable international environment.

The banks estimate that through the Recovery Fund they will close contracts for loans of 1 billion euros, with the disbursements reaching 250 million euros by the end of the year. The protagonists will be the infrastructure and energy sectors, where 2.3 billion euro investment projects are already underway, along with privatizations.

Deals and privatizations

After the energy sectors and especially the RES, manufacturing and tourism, large loans are intended to finance specific deals in the food, telecommunications sector, which reach 2 billion euros. Examples include Motor Oil – Ellaktor, Cosmos Aluminum – ETEM, Chipita – Mondelez International, Coca Cola HBC – Coca Cola Bottling Company of Egypt, Dardanel Onentas Gida Sanayi – Kallimanis, acquisitions by Delivery Hero, Wind Hellas – United Group, Halyps – Iraklis etc., totaling 6.3 billion euros. To these should be added the tenders for Attiki Odos, regional ports, the concession of Egnatia, etc.

Eurobank

The trend of the first quarter showed a net credit expansion of 0.4 million euros, which came mainly from companies of all sizes. Demand strengthened further in April and May, mainly from energy-related (RES), shipping, tourism, construction and manufacturing sectors. Demand to date has led to the conclusion that the annual loan target of € 2.3 billion will be met.

Alpha Bank

The new target envisions a net credit expansion of 2.2 billion euros, compared to the original of 1.5 billion euros. In the first quarter, new loans amounted to 2.3 billion euros, which accounted for 95% of business loans and 5% of retail banking. Loan repayments amounted to 1.4 billion euros and, thus, the net credit expansion amounted to 1 billion euros.

Piraeus Bank

The first quarter of the year started with new loans of 1.7 billion euros corresponding to a net credit expansion of 300 million euros and is moving towards achieving the annual target for net financing of 1.2 billion euros. In the first quarter, the financing of the processing dominated, as, moreover, is foreseen by the new strategic plan, together with the energy and tourism sectors.

National Bank

The National Bank maintains its target for a net credit expansion of 1.5-2 billion euros in 2022, which corresponds to new disbursements of about 5 billion euros, with an emphasis on renewable energy sources, infrastructure, technology and everything included in the its strategic plan National 2.0 that follows the financing needs of the Recovery Fund. In the first quarter, disbursements amounted to 1.1 billion, while in the second quarter until mid-May, an additional 800 million euros were disbursed.