ECONOMY

Greece needs to move fast to lure investors to banks, HFSF says

Greece needs to move fast to lure investors to banks, HFSF says

Greece wants to lure funds from private investors for its lenders to minimize the burden repairing the financial industry will put on the public debt load, the head of the country’s bank recapitalization fund said.

Greek lawmakers need to pass legislation by the middle of October setting the rules under which the banks will be recapitalized, including the technical details on any potential losses for senior bondholders, according to Hellenic Financial Stability Fund Chief Executive Officer Aristides Xenofos.

“If the bank’s capital needs are small, then it will be easy to attract private capital,” Xenofos told reporters in Athens on Wednesday. “If they’re big, we’ll try to attract private capital anyway.”

The law needs to be submitted by the middle of next month to ensure that the process can be completed by the middle of December, Xenofos said. The capital requirements will be announced by the end of October after an asset quality review and stress test carried out by the European Central Bank, he said.

[Bloomberg]

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