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| Greek banks reopen to a surprise: no deluge of panic-stricken customers | Greek banks reopen to a surprise: no deluge of panic-stricken customers |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| At 6am on Monday morning Dimitris Rombopoulos was at his post as the security guard outside the National Bank of Greece. By 6.30 the first of a small but steady stream of people, mostly white-haired pensioners, had begun to appear. | |
| Rombopoulos, tall, dark, his tie slightly askew, was braced for the worst. “I thought after three weeks of the banks being closed it’s going to be crazy,” he said. “I thought maybe I’d need reinforcement.” | |
| So when the giant doors of the bank’s historical headquarters at 86 Aeolou Street finally opened, Rombopoulos had a bit of a surprise. | |
| “About 70 people had gathered and most of them were pensioners wanting to withdraw cash,” he added. “And that was about as big as the crowd got.” | |
| The opening of Greek banks on Monday was not without symbolism. After 21 days of being firmly closed, the sight of their shutters going up was uplifting both for Greeks and their debt-stricken economy – an economy that with the added restriction of capitals controls has suffered immeasurable damage in the meantime. | The opening of Greek banks on Monday was not without symbolism. After 21 days of being firmly closed, the sight of their shutters going up was uplifting both for Greeks and their debt-stricken economy – an economy that with the added restriction of capitals controls has suffered immeasurable damage in the meantime. |
| “What economy can work without its banks?” asked Spyros Kouroumbiotis, a pensioner who had joined the queue to pay his taxes. | |
| “As an economist I still help my family with their business and I can tell you it’s been a huge ordeal. Exports have stopped, imports have stopped, nothing has worked because it’s been impossible to pay anyone.” | |
| But on Monday it was the manner of their reopening that surprised officials most. Quite quickly it became evident that the panic-stricken deluge of customers many had feared was simply not happening. | |
| Many Greeks, who have spent the best part of five years internalising the crisis and getting used to bad news, reacted by staying at home. Those who did not appeared willing to stand in neat orderly queues, motivated to large degree by the desire to keep up with annual taxes and utility bills. | |
| In the vaults of the National Bank of Greece, few were as taken aback as the amiable Ioannis Zafeiropoulos. | In the vaults of the National Bank of Greece, few were as taken aback as the amiable Ioannis Zafeiropoulos. |
| With oversight of about 7,500 safety deposit boxes – held behind iron bars and huge steel doors – Zafeiropoulos, an official at the bank for the past 31 years, had spent 10 days drawing up a contingency plan. His worry: that once the banks reopened, the vaults might be stormed by savers fearing the country’s ejection from the eurozone. | With oversight of about 7,500 safety deposit boxes – held behind iron bars and huge steel doors – Zafeiropoulos, an official at the bank for the past 31 years, had spent 10 days drawing up a contingency plan. His worry: that once the banks reopened, the vaults might be stormed by savers fearing the country’s ejection from the eurozone. |
| “How was I going to cope when no more than four people can be in a vault at the same time?” he asked. “I had to devise a plan but instead of 3,000 people turning up as I had thought, we’ve had less than a hundred. We’ve been joking about how disappointing it’s been.” | |
| All morning, he said, he had been asking himself why. | All morning, he said, he had been asking himself why. |
| Demand for safety boxes soared when Athens’ debt crisis first peaked in mid-2012, with most being rented for the purpose of hiding cash and jewels. The subterranean rooms at the Bank of Greece were especially sought after because of their renowned security: it was here that the country’s gold reserves were stored before being sequestered by German occupation forces during the second world war. | Demand for safety boxes soared when Athens’ debt crisis first peaked in mid-2012, with most being rented for the purpose of hiding cash and jewels. The subterranean rooms at the Bank of Greece were especially sought after because of their renowned security: it was here that the country’s gold reserves were stored before being sequestered by German occupation forces during the second world war. |
| An estimated €40bn (£28bn) is believed to have been withdrawn from accounts by worried depositors since the start of 2015 – with much of it ending up in boxes and homes. | |
| Zafeiropoulos had an explanation for the seemingly muted reaction to the banks’ reopening. | |
| “People have behaved so responsibly, so maturely today. And I think that’s because they have probably said, ‘Now that the banks have opened, they are not going to close again and what on Earth will I do with the contents of a safety box? Where will I hide my money or my jewels if I do take them out?’ | |
| “This crisis is never going to end. Do the sums, see how much they say we owe them and you’ll understand it will not be ending anytime soon,” he said, referring to the EU, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund that have kept the country afloat. |