The degree of activation of the 3,800 employees in the National Bank of Greece’s network of 360 branches will determine the collection of about a third of the price CVC Capital partners has promised to NBG for the acquisition of 90.01% of the bank’s insurance arm, Ethniki.
The European Investment Bank formally agreed on Monday to help manage up to 5 billion euros as part of Greece’s implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, known as “Greece 2.0.”
Greece on Friday secured approval from EU competition regulators to extend its “Hercules” bad loan reduction scheme to help banks reduce the mountain of impaired credit burdening their balance sheets. The scheme was launched in October 2019 to help the country’s banks offload up to 30 billion euros of bad loans.
Piraeus Bank got the green light for a planned equity offering to raise about 1 billion euros from shareholders at an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday.
DBRS Morningstar said in a commentary on Tuesday it believes that recent subordinated debt issuance and capital actions should enable the banks to absorb the impact of additional nonperforming exposure (NPE) disposals.
National Bank of Greece on Monday announced that during a Board of Directors meeting held on April 3, Chairman Costas Michaelides announced his decision not to put up his candidacy for re-election at the annual general meeting of shareholders 2021, when his term of office comes to an end.
Alpha Bank is speeding up procedures in its corporate transformation (hive-down), remaining focused on implementing its strategic plan based on a decision to split the bank.
The Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF) wants to keep its holding in Piraeus Bank near the 33.3% that would allow it to be a controlling-minority shareholder after the lender’s upcoming share capital increase, according to the statement of the fund’s general board chairman, Andreas Verykios, in Parliament on Thursday.
Moody’s announced on Thursday it has changed the outlook of the Greek as well as the Cypriot banking systems from stable to positive, forecasting a 3.6% economic expansion this year in Greece, according to the agency’s Banking System Outlooks.
An issue that had been pending for about five years is being brought to a close with the transfer of 90.01% of National Bank of Greece’s insurance subsidiary, Ethniki, to CVC Capital.
![A woman wears a protective face mask as she stands outside a closed store in Athens. [Reuters]](https://www.ekathimerini.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/shop-320x200.jpg)
Greek banks today face challenges similar to those of European banks.
Investment bank Citi said it could look to buy Turkish bank bonds after the recent market sell-off in the wake of central bank governor Naci Agbal’s exit.
National Bank has agreed to sell its insurance unit, Ethniki, to private equity group CVC Capital, two banking sources close to the process said on Friday.
Piraeus Bank on Friday provided details on its plan to raise about 1 billion euros through a share offering.
The annual results from three out of the country’s four systemic banks point to the creation of new bad loans amounting to 3-4 billion euros due to the pandemic, out of a total of €20 billion in loans whose servicing has been suspended.
The Finance Ministry is considering increasing the leeway for companies managing the nonperforming loans in the Hercules asset protection scheme, in terms of how long they have to hit their revenue targets while managing the portfolios they have undertaken, from 24 to 36 months.
