Lessons Learned: Andreas Verykios and Kostas Tsatsaronis

Andreas Verykios was appointed in 2018 to lead the board of directors of the General Council of the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF), an independent special purpose vehicle created to stabilize the Greek banking sector in the wake of the country’s debt crisis. The Greek economy was badly affected by the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and the Sovereign Debt Crisis, when the government was found to have underreported its fiscal deficits and public debt. This led to a downgrade and eventual default of its sovereign bonds, requiring assistance from the European Commission. From 2010 through 2018, the commission implemented three economic adjustment programs (EAPs) to stabilize the Greek financial sector, requiring sharp austerity measures that were widely unpopular in the country. The economy remained in a slow-growth pattern when the COVID-19 pandemic tested the recovery’s resilience. Konstantinos Tsatsaronis served as head of financial institutions at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) during both crises and joined the HFSF as a nonexecutive member of the General Council in 2019.