Greek Minister of State Akis Skertsos has pushed back against widely circulated claims that seven in 10 Greeks hold bank deposits under €1,000, arguing the figure conflates individual account data with actual numbers of depositors.
In a social media post, Mr. Skertsos said data from Greece’s Deposit and Investment Guarantee Fund (TEKE) tracks accounts per bank, not unique individuals, meaning a single person with accounts at three different banks would be counted three times.
He noted that TEKE recorded 31.7 million eligible depositors at the end of 2025 — roughly three times Greece’s population of 10.5 million — illustrating the data’s limitations for drawing conclusions about individual wealth.
According to Mr. Skertsos, household deposits in Greece rose from €106.4 billion in December 2018 to €148.7 billion in December 2025, an increase of €42.4 billion, or 39.8%.
He said much of that growth came from mid-sized accounts: deposits in the €5,000-50,000 range rose by €16 billion, while those between €50,000 and €100,000 grew by €7.9 billion, together accounting for nearly €24 billion of the total increase.
Based on conservative estimates using TEKE and Bank of Greece data, Mr. Skertsos said at least 4 million individuals hold accounts with balances between €5,000 and €50,000, and at least 500,000 hold accounts exceeding €100,000.
“Greece in 2026 is not a country of €1,000 bank deposits,” he wrote, arguing that public debate on the topic “must be based on responsible and well-documented analysis of the data,” distinguishing between bank accounts and actual people.
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Greek Minister of State Akis Skertsos has pushed back against widely circulated claims that seven in 10 Greeks hold bank deposits under €1,000, arguing the figure conflates individual account data with actual numbers of depositors.
In a social media post, Mr. Skertsos said data from Greece’s Deposit and Investment Guarantee Fund (TEKE) tracks accounts per bank, not unique individuals, meaning a single person with accounts at three different banks would be counted three times.
He noted that TEKE recorded 31.7 million eligible depositors at the end of 2025 — roughly three times Greece’s population of 10.5 million — illustrating the data’s limitations for drawing conclusions about individual wealth.
According to Mr. Skertsos, household deposits in Greece rose from €106.4 billion in December 2018 to €148.7 billion in December 2025, an increase of €42.4 billion, or 39.8%.
He said much of that growth came from mid-sized accounts: deposits in the €5,000-50,000 range rose by €16 billion, while those between €50,000 and €100,000 grew by €7.9 billion, together accounting for nearly €24 billion of the total increase.
Based on conservative estimates using TEKE and Bank of Greece data, Mr. Skertsos said at least 4 million individuals hold accounts with balances between €5,000 and €50,000, and at least 500,000 hold accounts exceeding €100,000.
“Greece in 2026 is not a country of €1,000 bank deposits,” he wrote, arguing that public debate on the topic “must be based on responsible and well-documented analysis of the data,” distinguishing between bank accounts and actual people.
