Fitch Ratings has affirmed National Bank of Greece S.A. (NBG), Piraeus Bank, S.A. (Piraeus), Alpha Bank AE (Alpha) and Eurobank Ergasias S.A.'s (Eurobank) Long-term Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) at 'B-' with Stable Outlooks, Short-term IDRs at 'B', and Viability Ratings (VRs) at 'b-'. Fitch has also affirmed the banks' Support Ratings (SR) at '5' and Support Rating Floors (SRF) at 'No Floor'.

The Hellenic unemployment rate decreased in February, marking the lowest statistic in over a year, as revealed by today's ELSTAT data.

One day prior to National Bank of Greece's share purchasing timeline, the 2.5 billion euro shares are already in excessive demand, as reported by Reuters today.