Helen Louri

Helen Louri-Dendrinou is Professor at the Department of Economics of AUEB since 2001 and head of the Department since 2015. She studied at the Athens University of Economics and Business (B.Sc. Econ., 1976), London School of Economics (M.Sc. Econ., 1977) and University of Oxford (D.Phil. Econ., 1986).
Her research interests are in the areas of Industrial Organization and Market Dynamics, Economic Geography and Foreign Direct Investment, Strategic Decisions of Financial Institutions. Her current research deals with the determinants and resolution methods of non-performing loans in Europe.
She has worked as Assistant and Associate Professor at the same Department and as Visiting Fellow at Oxford University and Visiting Professor at the LSE.
She has taught, given seminars and lectures and participated at conferences in many European universities and central banks. In 2015 as a visiting fellow of the Onassis Foundation (US) she gave a series of lectures at Simon Fraser University (Vancouver), University of California at Berkeley, University of California at Sacramento, Fordham University (NY), Yale University, Georgetown University, American University and the World Bank (Washington).
She has worked for research projects of international organizations such as the OECD, the World Bank, CEPR, IES and the European Commission.
She has published extensively in international academic journals (such as Oxford Economic Papers, Journal of Industrial Economics, International Journal of Industrial Organization, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, WeltwirtschaftlichesArchiv, Review of Industrial Organization, Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Urban Studies, Regional Studies, Journal of Post Keynesian Economics) and acted as referee for many of them.
She has served as dep. member of the Competition Commission in Greece and as member of the Economic Policy Committee (European Commission) and the International Relations Committee (European Central Bank). Since November 2015 she is alternate member of the Appeal Panel of the Single (Bank) Resolution Board in Brussels.
In June 2008-June 2014 she was Deputy Governor of the Bank of Greece responsible for monetary policy and bank resolution and President of the Hellenic Deposit & Investment Guarantee Fund.
She is a board member of the Foundation for Economic & Industrial Research (IOBE) and the Hellenic Foundation for European & Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP).

Resolution Strategies for Non-Performing Loans: A Post-Crisis European Perspective

July 5, 2017 by Helen Louri

NPLs are a dominant problem for banks in the euro area as in some countries almost one quarter of loans are not serviced. NPLs represent a real challenge for bank profitability and financial stability. In addition, they constrain credit expansion and delay economic recovery.
Despite some recent progress, slow growth and persistent unemployment as well as low investment interest due to asymmetric information and a wide bid-ask price wedge, make extremely difficult the cleaning of banks’ balance sheets.
A series of options have been suggested with a view to improving conditions in the European NPL market and reinforcing investor confidence respecting at the same time state aid rules. Public intervention measures, such as asset management companies and other co-investment strategies are deemed necessary in order to increase market efficiency and create a virtuous circle of reductions in NPLs and increases in investment and growth much needed in the euro area.