The Greek banking sector thus faces a double challenge: it has to apply all of the new regulations, control mechanisms and risk-based methods (Basel II), while expanding rapidly both in Greece and abroad, and, at the same time, from a risk management and internal control point of view, it has to rapidly integrate its subsidiaries and branches in South-East Europe, where the environment still differs from that of the average euro area country.
This improved ability has been facilitated further by the increasing willingness of our workers to embrace innovation more generally. It is reasonable to surmise that, not only have such measures contributed significantly to the long-term growth potential of the economy this past decade, they also have enhanced its short-term resistance to recession.