National Bank

The Greek bourse ended its slide on Thursday, but only just, as the morning gains evaporated while the benchmark ended virtually unchanged. Concerns over the possibility of a snap election in the fall have returned, while worries about banks’ capital requirements are refusing to go away.

Greece's biggest refiner Hellenic Petroleum said on Thursday it mandated Barclays Bank PLC and Credit Suisse Securities as global coordinators to issue a five-year bond.

Hellenic did not give any further details about the timing or the size of the bonds. This would be the company's second debt issue since May, when it sold $400 million of bonds to improve its liquidity.

A third day of losses for most stocks on the Greek bourse has taken the benchmark index to its lowest point of the last 17 sessions, with banks again leading the way for sellers.

Slight lending rates growth both on a monthly and on an annual basis in almost all segments was recorded by Bulgaria's National Bank in May, 2014.

The total loan portfolio of businesses and households increased by BGN 77.8M (0.14%) in May, and the increase on an annual basis is by BGN 982.8M (1.84%), Capital Daily reports.

Fresh excerpts of a tapped conversation between Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and a former Finance Minister have triggered another scandal involving the government.

In recording provided by Wprost, a news magazine, Sikorski is heard making insulting remarks on relations with Washington and British Prime Minister David Cameron's EU policies, the BBC reports.

By Kiel Porter, Aaron Kirchfeld & Marcus Bensasson

Few financiers in London covet a job with a government-owned Greek bank. A glimpse of Pavlos Stellakis’s Bentley or his townhouse in Belgravia might have changed their minds.

Remittances again registered an increase in 2013, with Romanians sending home 4.2 billion euro last year, according to data from the National Bank.

The rise is believed to signify that many Romanian emigrants to countries like Italy and Germany have again started to find stable employment after the worst of the financial crisis.

Revenues arising from bank deposits have recorded the highest rates in 6 years, according to data by Bulgaria's National Bank and the National Statistical Institute.

For the last year, every BGN 100 on deposit has generated a revenue of BGN 5.50, nearly two-thirds of it coming from the interest and the rest is due to the negative inflation rates, Bulgarian 24 Chasa infroms.

Greece’s biggest lender by assets, National Bank (NBG), reported higher-than-expected profit in the first quarter, helped by lower funding costs, its Turkish unit Finansbank and reduced provisions for bad loans.

The group posted net earnings of 181 million euros in January to March, its sixth straight profitable quarter.