Financial economics

Turkey’s sole stock exchange Borsa Istanbul is reportedly holding talks with one European and one American giant for the potential sale of a minority of the exchange’s shares only months after a landmark deal with U.S. stock exchange NASDAQ.

Alastair Marsh & Katie Linsell

Mario Draghi’s words have lost none of their potency. Just look at the bond market where the European Central Bank president’s hints about further stimulus soothed investors unsettled by turmoil from Ukraine to Iraq.

The overall uncertainty regarding how Greek banks will emerge from October’s stress tests to be conducted on all EU banks has fueled a summer of distress and fluctuation for local banking stocks.

Bulgaria’s central bank said on Friday it has invited the two biggest shareholders in Corporate Commercial Bank to propose rescue options for the troubled lender by end-August.

Letters have been sent to Corpbank’s majority owner Bromak EOOD and the State General Reserve Fund (SGRF) of Oman, the Bulgarian National Bank said in a statement.

Greece’s banks are on sturdy capital ground, and if any capital injections are needed, the sum should not exceed 3.5 billion euros, Morgan Stanley notes in a new report.

Morgan Stanley analysts also stated that recent share price corrections in the local banking sector have created investment opportunities.

 Sector's denial of any capital injection needs receives backing from positive report delivered by JPMorgan

Greek banking sources are denying reports that the sector will need a new round of increased capital support, announcing that no such news has been delivered to them by the European Central Bank.

The European Banking Authority will for the first time publish details of banks’ losses from fines and litigation when it releases the results of European Union-wide stress tests later this year.

Turkish banks’ rapid credit growth and higher external debt increases downside risks in the case of extremely stressed market conditions, Fitch Ratings has said in its latest statement over risks looming over the country’s economy.

The long-term foreign debt of Turkey’s private sector rose to $166.5 billion in June, a rise of $8.9 billion compared to December last year, the Central Bank has announced, amid rising concern over companies’ mounting debt stocks.

Piraeus Bank, Greece’s second-largest lender by assets, has agreed to sell its ATE Insurance business to Ergo Insurance Group, a subsidiary of German reinsurer Munich Re, for 90.1 million euros in cash.