GREEK Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis said in an interview published Saturday he did not expect the European Central Bank’s (ECB) health checks to show major surprises for Greek banks.

    Violent swings on financial markets in the past week have deepened investors’ anxiety about what Europe’s review of the health of its banks will reveal later this month.

    The ECB’s Asset Quality Review (AQR) of 130 leading banks and stress tests of their ability to withstand a future crisis are supposed to shore up confidence by drawing a line under the eurozone crisis.

    “I cannot know the results, but I believe that there won’t be any big surprises,” Hardouvelis told weekly Realnews.

    “Should they need additional capital, I think that they will be able to raise it rather easily from the market.”

    The ECB will release the results of its EU-wide bank stress tests Oct. 26.

    Greece’s four biggest lenders, National Bank, Piraeus Bank, Alpha Bank and Eurobank, which control about 90 percent of the industry, suffered heavy losses in recent years due to rising bad loans and their participation in a debt restructuring program (PSI) aimed at relieving the country’s debt burden. (SD-Agencies)