BoG governor: Markets will open for Greece

Commenting on the successful book-building process launched by Piraeus Bank and Alpha Bank. The Greek central banker said that “the two systemic banks have made share capital increase plans, worth around 3.0 billion euros, larger than needed, which were significantly oversubscribed. One of them also issued a three-year non-covered bank bond worth 500 million euros. These are the first signs that markets are beginning to open again for Greece”.

Addressing a EUROFI 2014 conference in Athens, Mr Provopoulos expressed his confidence that a second phase of a bank recapitalisation plan will play a significant role in restoring confidence towards Greece and the healthy funding of the economy.

Commenting on a new bank restructuring mechanism, the central banker said the outcome of recent negotiations were satisfactory as they safeguarded the creation of a sustainable banking system in the Eurozone through a smooth restructuring of problematic bank to protect financial stability.

He stressed that supervisory authorities retained the decision on when a restructuring was necessary, while a Supervisory Board also maintained the right to decide when a credit institution “was on the verge of bankruptcy or possible bankruptcy”.