with a 78 % market share have been very active is modernising their business not only in greece but also in acquiring or setting up new banks in all the south - eastern european countries, where the market share of greek banks is more than 20 % on average, with a high of over 33 % in fyrom and a low of somewhat less than 20 % in romania. in this region greek banks employ around 16. 000 employees in their subsidiaries or branches, and few thousand more in eu countries, us, australia, canada etc. the recent acquisition of finansbank, the fifth largest private bank in turkey by the nbg and of a smaller turkish bank by eurobank, as well the purchase of an egyptian bank by the bank of piraeus, is transforming the scenery of the greek banking sector, which is becoming more international. the size of greek banks is increasing so that the disadvantage of their small size is gradually being removed and banks are now in a position to extend their activities into more profitable lines of banking, e. g. private banking, consultancy for m & a, investment banking, asset management etc. greek banks can now start enjoying economies of scale and scope. these factors are all reflected in their high profitability : this year the return on equity is expected to exceed 20 %. at the same time, greek banks are reinforcing their role as a vehicle facilitating trade in goods and services, investment and capital flows as well as migration between the countries in the wider region. this has led to intensive competition between the greek banks both in the home market and abroad, with the result that the high greek interest rate spreads over most euro area countries ’ bank loans has considerably diminished to the benefit of the consumer. indeed, competition and financial liberalization allows households to better manage their portfolios of assets and liabilities and in a fast growing economy most households would find it preferable to bring forward the benefits of their expected higher incomes in the future. there is also a stock adjustment issue ; starting from a very low level of indebtedness and realizing that greece has entered a period where interest rates are much lower and risks have diminished, as well as because of their rising wealth, households find it acceptable to carry a larger stock of debt. the flow of borrowing as households adjust to their higher level of desired debt may be very high for a protracted period. undoubtedly, as regulators of the banking system we are concerned and we know that many things have to be improved. there

damages of 3, 400 trillion korean won ( us $ 2. 6 trillion ) 1. as the effects of global warming intensify, natural disasters such as heatwaves, wildfires, floods and droughts are becoming more frequent and widespread, causing immeasurable damage. the longer the delay in the climate change response, the more these crises and health emergencies will pose a serious threat to our daily lives. in a national awareness survey on climate change's impact on health, approximately 63 % of respondents considered it " serious. " however, in the future, the number of people who perceive the climate crisis as a health crisis will increase even more. 2 1 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches second, the republic of korea has an industrial structure that makes it difficult to achieve short - term greenhouse gas reductions, and any failure to respond proactively could severely restrict exports due to global environmental regulations. the fossil fuel dependency rate of the republic of korea ( as of 2021 ) is high, at 64 %, while the renewable energy proportion is low, at 7 %. in comparison, the united states, germany and japan all have renewable energy levels between 20 % and 40 %. furthermore, across all industries, the republic of korea has a high share of carbon - intensive sectors, such as oil refining, chemicals, cement, and steel, which ( as of 2021 ) account for 5. 3 % of our economy, a high number compared to major advanced countries like the united states ( 2. 5 % ), germany ( 2. 8 % ) and france ( 1. 7 % ). 3 with such energy and industrial structures, the transition to a low - carbon economy poses a burden for export - oriented companies. however, considering the rapid introduction of global environmental regulations, delays in changing the business paradigm are no longer feasible. examples of these new regulations include the european union's carbon border adjustment mechanism ( cbam ) 4, the united states'inflation reduction act ( ira ), the re100 campaign by global it companies like apple and microsoft, and the strong measures taken by major asset management companies like blackrock and vanguard to exclude environmentally harmful companies that do not meet esg standards. financial institutions that support exporting companies are no exception. the glasgow financial alliance for net zero ( gfanz ), comprised of banks, investment firms and others, is urging financial institutions to demonstrate tangible results in achieving the targets they have voluntarily disclosed for carbon neutrality. as we approach 2030