Single Supervisory Mechanism

Wednesday's Piraeus Bank board meeting, during which a new chief executive officer was supposed to be elected for the lender, was unexpectedly suspended as an email from the European Central Bank's Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) arrived asking for the process to be stopped so that the two short-listed candidates could be examined further.

National Bank of Greece announced on Monday that, following the conclusion of the sale of Turkish subsidiary Finansbank, it has addressed a letter to the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) of the European Central Bank requesting approval to repurchase the contingent convertible bonds (CoCos) amounting to about 2.03 billion euros issued in December 2015 and held by the Hellenic Financial Stabili

The European Central Bank's Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) waded into the rift between National and bank bailout fund HFSF on Monday, saying in a letter that an extraordinary general meeting - that the HFSF wants to call - would lead to a further escalation of the crisis.

According to the findings from the monitoring conducted by the SSM and the BoG, loans at Attica Bank had been issued without any adherence to any banking criterion, like in the case of the businessman Yannis Kalogritsas.

The Commission concluded that the measures already implemented as part of the bank’s existing restructuring plan of July 2014, in addition to those envisaged in the amended plan, will enable National Bank of Greece to ensure lending to the Greek economy in line with EU state aid rules, in particular the “2013 Banking Communication”, and the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive.

The Commission concluded that the measures already implemented as part of the bank’s existing restructuring plan of July 2014, in addition to those envisaged in the amended plan, will enable Piraeus Bank to ensure lending to the Greek economy in line with EU state aid rules, in particular the 2013 Banking Communication, and the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive.

By European Central Bank Chief Mario Draghi

Ladies and gentlemen,

Four major Greek banks must find up to 14.4 billion euros ($15.8 billion) to survive potential economic shocks, the European Central Bank said on Oct. 31, releasing the results of an in-depth financial health check.

Bulgaria's central bank has said its commitment and action taken so far create prerequisites for the timely finalisation of the acquisition of the branch nework of Greece's Alpha Bank in the country by Postbank, a subsidiary of another Greek lender, Eurobank.

Bulgaria should keep its currency board system until adopting the euro, and join the EU's Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) immediately after Bulgarian banks pass stress tests, a nominee for a new chief of the country's central bank said on Thursday.