Greece owes German banks €23.5bn

German banks have about €23.5bn in credit exposure to Greece, but the systemic risk is limited as the country’s biggest commercial banks, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, hold only a tiny fraction of that, according to figures gathered by Reuters.

The lion’s share of German exposure is held by the state-owned development bank KfW, with lending to the Greek state totalling €15bn, banking industry group BdB said.

Commerzbank said it held about €400m in exposure to Greece at the end of September, while Deutsche Bank said it held around €298m in corporate, bank and public debt. Greek politics has weighed on markets including the euro as speculation intensified that Greece could leave the eurozone after a snap election on January 25.

A JP Morgan study found French bank Credit Agricole was the most exposed of Europe’s commercial banks. Credit Agricole said it had €3.5bn in exposure to Greece at the end of 2013, of which €2.8bn was to the shipping sector and none to state entities.

France’s largest bank, BNP Paribas, held around €700m in Greek debt at the end of 2013, according to data provided by BNP. Most of the exposure was to corporate borrowers and none was to Greek state entities, the bank said.

BNP documents from the end of 2013 also show an extra €1.3bn in exposure to Greek companies not tied to the Greek economic situation, such as shipping businesses. Societe Generale held €300m in exposure to Greek corporate debt and had no sovereign exposure as of end-September, a spokeswoman for the bank said.

Of the total German exposure, €4.6bn was to other banks, €3.6bn to companies and private individuals, and €15.2bn to state entities, the BdB said.

“The credit exposure of German banks in Greece is low,” BdB head Thomas Kemmer said in a statement.

* Reuters