Greek Bad Loans Are a Drag Even After Crisis Shrank Bank Sector

  • A large majority of bad loans remain on the lenders’ books
  • Working things out with borrowers may be better for economy
Photographer: Kostas Tsironis/Bloomberg
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Ιra Tsinara had a front-row seat in Greece’s bad-loans drama.

The 44-year-old spent half of her 20-year banking career handling non-performing loans at one of the country’s biggest lenders. When she first saw the extent of such exposure at the bank in 2006 -- just two years before Greece became the epicenter of Europe’s financial crisis -- she was shocked.