Athens, Greece. Greek households experienced a significant erosion of wealth between 2021 and 2025 as inflation outpaced returns on traditional bank savings, according to a new report from Freedom24. The report said this occurred despite Greece’s recovery in macroeconomic indicators and its regained investment grade status.
Conservative asset structure
An analysis based on data from the Bank of Greece, the Athens Stock Exchange, and the OECD found that the traditional strategy of keeping money in cash-based accounts carried a high cost.
As of January 2024, 60 per cent of the population’s financial assets were held in bank accounts and cash, leaving Greece among the most conservative countries in the eurozone in terms of household asset allocation.
The report attributed this high level of liquidity largely to the collective trauma of the 2009–2018 period, when liquid assets were seen as essential for survival and security.
Savings concentration
Data from the Hellenic Deposit and Investment Guarantee Fund showed sharp inequality in household savings.
According to the data, 71 per cent of savers held less than 1,000 € in their accounts, while 84 per cent held less than 5,000 €. At the same time, only 0.8 per cent of savers, those with balances above 100,000 €, controlled about 44 per cent of the country’s total bank deposits.
Low deposit returns and inflation
Although the total wealth of Greek households exceeded one trillion € in 2025, Freedom24 said a large share of this capital remained stagnant, limiting the ability of citizens to grow wealth at rates available in domestic and international markets.
The report identified local banks’ limited transmission of European Central Bank interest rate increases to depositors as a key obstacle for average savers.
Between 2022 and 2023, the European Central Bank raised interest rates from 0 per cent to 4.5 per cent, while local savings rates increased on average by only 0.5 per cent to 1.1 per cent, widening the interest margin.
Inflation in Greece reached 9.65 per cent in 2022 and acted as what the report described as an invisible tax on capital. According to the Hellenic Statistical Authority, the cumulative real return on deposits over the five-year period was negative 17 per cent.
