Alpha Bank

Billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson says he believes in the future of Greek banks and the growth potential of the country's economy.

The absence of any substantial developments in Greece resulted in local stocks heading south on Monday, in line with international markets. The benchmark did post a partial recovery in the afternoon, but not enough to make up for the earlier losses. Trading volume was very low.

Alpha Bank will form a joint venture with Spain's Aktua to manage a loan portfolio adding up to 11 billion euros and find solutions such as debt haircuts or property sales for the borrowers. The portfolio will consist of mortgages, consumer loans and even some small corporate loans that have been delayed for at least a year.

As investors continued to await the conclusion of the government's negotiations with the country's creditors, profit taking dominated Monday's session at the Greek bourse, on the heels of last week's mini-rally that saw the benchmark clear 600 points. The first hour of trading resulted in gains, but the majority of stocks sank into negative territory for the rest of the day.

Bulgaria's Postbank, a subsidiary of the Greek Eurobank, successfully finalized on Tuesday the agreement on the acquisition of the operations of the Bulgarian branch of the Greek Alpha Bank.

With the acquisition, Postbank, legally known as Eurobank Bulgaria, has become the fourth largest bank in Bulgaria in terms of loans and deposits, with assets exceeding BGN 6.3 B.

Finally the time has arrived for the main opposition New Democracy (ND) party to choose its leader after all the pressure of failed national elections, the fiasco of a failed local election and a time of introspection as different party factions pull the party in all directions. Haven’t voted yet? Here’s a profile of the four candidates.

Greece's finance ministry on Dec. 8 said it had lifted capital controls imposed in June on its stock market, but kept in place a short selling ban on the shares of its top banks.

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.

A double cyber attack on Greek banks has been taking place with precision over four days. A group of hackers has launched therats against the e-banking systems of three Greek banks seeking a ransom in bitcoin. Meanwhile, there are leaks of Greek debit and credit card data that  have been used for transactions with the United States in recent days.

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.