FINANCE: Hellenic CEO says Cyprus is overbanked and overinsured

Hellenic Bank CEO Ioannis Matsis told Bloomberg on Friday that Cyprus still had too many banks despite the recent acquisition of the Co-op.

“Cyprus is a very overbanked and very overinsured market,” said Matsis.

He gave examples to prove his point such as assets per bank employee in Cyprus being €8 mln compared to the EU’s €16 mln and the population per bank employee was 80 in Cyprus and 160 in the EU.

“This shows we are doubly overbanked,” said Matsis.

He added: “There are 11 credit institutions on the island…the right size I would say is three,” he added.