ICT-related Behavior of Greek Banks in the Economic Crisis

ABSTRACT

This article analyzes the ICT-related behavior of the five ‘system-relevant’ Greek banks in the first years 2010–2014 of the Greek economic crisis. We conclude that besides the standard immediate reaction to the crisis by reducing ICT-related expenses, the Greek banks in a later phase of the economic crisis proceeded to a substantial rationalization of their ICT processes/practices and improvement of their ICT capabilities, as well as the adaptation of their ICT plans to the crisis conditions.

KEYWORDS:

• Economic crisis
• economic recession
• ICT resources
• ICT capabilities
• ICT plan

Notes

1. For the definition of the ‘system-relevant’ or ‘systemic’ banks of Greece (meant as large banks, having significant impact on the whole system of the national economy, whose failure might pose large scale systemic risks on the economy) see Bank of Greece (2018) and Hellenic Bank Association (2019).

2. The five banks we have taken into consideration in this study are the largest Greek banks and at the same time the most ‘system relevant’ ones, according to Bank of Greece (2018), since they have a large impact on the whole Greek economy, and their failure might pose high systemic risks to it and lead to extensive destabilization.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Euripidis Loukis

Dr Euripidis Loukis is Professor of Information Systems at the Department of Information and Communication Systems Engineering, University of the Aegean, Greece. Previously he has taught at the Postgraduate Program ‘Athens MBA’ of the National Technical University of Athens and the Athens University of Economics and Business. He has served also as Information Systems Advisor at the Ministry to the Presidency of the Government of Greece. Prof. Loukis has conducted extensive research in the areas of information systems and e-government.

Spyros Arvanitis

Dr Spyros Arvanitis is a Senior Researcher at the ETH Zurich. He has been until his retirement in 2019 Head of the Innovation Economics Research Group of the KOF Swiss Economic Institute at the ETH Zurich. Dr. Arvanitis holds doctoral degrees from the University of Zurich (economics) and the ETH Zurich (chemistry). He has published widely on the economics of innovation, technology diffusion, firm performance and market dynamics.

Dennis Myrtidis

Mr Dennis Myrtidis is an ICT consultant. He holds an MSc degree from the London School of Economics, and currently is a PhD candidate at the University of Aegean. He has worked for many years as an ICT manager in the banking sector. He is ex vice president of the Board Committee of the Hellenic ICT Institute of the Hellenic Management Association (EEDE). Currently he is conducting research on the implications of the economic crisis on firms’ ICT use and investment.