Benoît Cœuré

In his last interview as a member of the executive board of the European Central Bank, French economist Benoit Coeure said that helping keep Greece in the euro was one of the highlights of his eight-year stint at the ECB.

 The euro single currency area must shore itself up with reforms or face renewed threats of breakup when a new economic crisis strikes, a top European Central Bank official warned Friday.

Without a post-bailout program framework, the special status allowing Greek banks to enjoy European Central Bank financing will be lost, ECB governing council member Benoit Coeure is said to have told Greek bankers on Monday in Frankfurt, while Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann also expressed support for such a framework for Greece.

There will be no extraordinary asset quality review (AQR) of Greek banks, senior credit sector officials have told Kathimerini following the public statements by the European Central Bank and based on various high-level meetings. They also note that local banks may spend more than 10 billion euros of their operating profits in the next three years on reducing bad loans.

The European Central Bank left its ultra easy monetary policy stance unchanged as expected on July 20, keeping rates at record lows and even leaving the door open to more asset buys if the outlook worsens.

Eurozone governments have not yet provided enough clarity on the type of debt relief they may offer Greece to reassure the European Central Bank that the crisis-hit country's debt is sustainable, ECB board member Benoit Coeure said on Wednesday.

Benoit Coeure, member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, expressed the opinion on Wednesday morning in Frankfurt, that the decisions of the last Eurogroup did not sufficiently alleviate the concerns of the European Central Bank (ECB) on the viability of the Greek debt to include Greece in the quantitative easing program (QE).

Greece may not be offered a substantially improved debt-relief package when euro-area finance ministers discuss its bailout in Luxembourg next month, officials directly involved in the negotiations said.

Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos will be the keynote speaker at an Economist conference in Frankfurt on Wednesday titled "Greece: A Comeback to the Financial Markets?"

Also addressing the conference will be Alternate Economy Minister Alexis Haritsis, Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras and his fellow ECB Executive Board member Benoit Coeure.

Greece is making progress with reforms but it must clear several more hurdles before the European Central Bank will consider including its debt in its 2.3 trillion euro bond purchase program, ECB Executive Board member Benoit Coeure said.