Greece's National Bank to sell Romania, Serbia, Cyprus operations

Greece's second-largest lender National Bank (NBG) will sell more assets in the Balkans, including its Romanian operations, to complete a restructuring plan agreed with European authorities, its chief executive said on Tuesday.

Like other big Greek banks, NBG has been slimming down by divesting assets and foreign subsidiaries to focus on banking at home, with proceeds boosting capital ratios and liquidity.

"We are very close to announcing the buyer for Banca Romaneasca," CEO Leonidas Fragiadakis told Reuters in an interview. "The sale will be concluded in the next few months, it will be capital-accretive and beneficial to liquidity."

He said Credit Suisse was advising the group on the sale.The buyer for the wholly-owned Romanian subsidiary, which has a network of about 110 branches, will also pay back a loan of 550 million euros ($625 million) that Banca...