The threat of bankruptcy and aGrexit after the failed negotiations between Greece and lenders and the scenarios of potential capital controls has led many Greeks running to the banks to withdraw deposits and savings.
In the last four days, 3 billion euros fled from Greek banks, with bankers expecting that on Friday there would be even more withdrawals ahead of Monday’s emergency summit of Eurozone country leaders.
From December 2014, when snap elections were announced predicting the win of the leftist SYRIZA party, until the end of April 2015, Greeks withdrew 30 billion euros from banks. This has forced the Bank of Greece to rely mainly on the Emergency Liquidity Assistance for liquidity in the past few weeks.
Yet, there is another parameter on the bank runs of the last months: Many Greeks do not trust banks; especially older people. Cash cards, credit cards, or electronic transactions are concepts that many older Greeks do not comprehend and refuse to use them.
So, the story of the old man or woman who passed away leaving huge bundles of cash for their relatives to find is a common one like the story of Santa Clause — only that the latter is a myth.
Nowadays though, with burglaries and overall crime, Greeks have to be more inventive and leave the mattress for sleeping only.
The following video shows places Greeks use as safe deposits:
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