Eurobank Ergasias

Statements by the German and Dutch finance ministers regarding the prospects of Greece and its partners reaching a deal dashed expectations at the Athens bourse on Wednesday and sent the benchmark down over 4 percent. A government statement on the freezing of the port privatization tenders did not help either.

The uncertain outcome of Greece?s standoff with its creditors prompted Moody?s Investors Service to downgrade the ratings on five lenders, citing the reduced likelihood of state support, and said it may cut again.

New York-based Moody?s reduced National, Piraeus and Alpha one level to Caa2 from Caa1, it said in a statement on Monday.

Following a recent decision by the ratings firm change Greece’s credit rating to under monitoring regime, Moody’s announced today the credit assessment of the five Greek banks.
More specifically, Piraeus Bank, National Bank and Alpha Bank from Caa1 downgraded to Caa2, while Eurobank and Attica Bank from Caa3 downgraded to Caa2.

Following Greek government's decision to abandon its request for a "haircut", the markets took a breather.

Also opens the way for meetings between the Greek Minister of Finance and the ECB President as well as with his German counterpart.

The decision led to a rally in the Greek stock market and crated declines in yields on Greek bonds.

By Yiannis Papadoyiannis

The European Central Bank remains opposed to an increase in the exposure of domestic lenders to treasury bills, while its verdict tomorrow on the possible extension of the emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) mechanism for Greek banks is eagerly anticipated.

BELGRADE - There will be no Swiss franc rate fix because such a solution would jeopardize the equal treatment of other clients in Serbia and endanger the basic postulates of the banking sector, Goran Pitic, head of the Managing Board of the Association of Serbian Banks, said on Friday.

Non-banking blue chips turned their backs on the turmoil that continued to rock local lenders on Monday, although the significant gains recorded by the benchmark came on a day with very low turnover.

By George Georgiopoulos

Greece's central bank has moved to protect its banks from any fallout from the coming general election, asking the European Central Bank to approve a stand-by domestic emergency funding line, a Bank of Greece official said on Saturday.

 Alpha and Eurobank are the other two to have applied for use of the mechanism that secures cash flow

By Yiannis Papadoyiannis

Two major Greek lenders applied to tap the national central bank's emergency funding a year after ending their reliance on it, a precautionary move stemming from deposit outflows before an election this month, bankers said on Jan. 16.