Financial Times
November 3, 2011
In July, Dimitris Kastriotis’ 80-year-old mother received an unusual pitch from her bank manager.
He was not asking her to refinance a loan or sign up for a new credit card. “He said: ‘Take some money out,’” recalled Mr Kastriotis, an Athens lawyer.
That friendly warning was meant to protect an ageing customer from the risks of a fully fledged run on Greek banks, a worry that has stalked the country’s strained financial system as the crisis has dragged on.
Those fears have not yet materialised. But they were heightened after George Papandreou, the prime minister, stunned his European allies on Monday by calling for a referendum on a €130bn bail-out package agreed last week – a high-stakes gamble that, if it fails, could push the country into a messy default and a possible exit from the eurozone.
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