Alpha Bank

In just seven hours, as many as 10,000 companies applied for low-interest loans that are guaranteed by the state through the Guarantee Fund, exhausting the amount available at this initial stage of the process, Development Minister Adonis Georgiadis announced on Thursday.

The upcoming rebalancing of the MSCI Greek stock indexes and profit taking after five consecutive days of gains led to losses at Athinon Avenue on Friday, with a huge daily turnover. Notably 70% of trading volume took placing during the closing auctions. The benchmark of the Athens stock market ended May with a monthly advance of 3.87%, though banks lost 2.94%.

The barrage of arson attacks across Attica at dawn Monday was centrally coordinated, according to the Hellenic Police (ELAS), which also cite a call posted on an anti-establishment website on May 15 for an escalation of attacks by anarchists.

Alpha Bank reported slightly higher net profit in the fourth quarter last year on the back on lower provisions for bad loans and better net interest income, Greece's fourth-largest lender by assets said on Friday.

Piraeus Bank, Greece's largest lender by assets, on Wednesday opened books for a 10-year Tier 2 bond issue, aiming to raise about 500 million euros ($546 million), a source close to the deal said.
"Piraeus Bank is opening books for a 10-year issue, aiming at about 500 million euros," the source told Reuters.
Pricing is seen in the low 6 percent range, the source added.

Greek stocks suffered a significant drop on Friday, wiping out almost all the gains registered by the bourse benchmark over the course of the week. The decline was led by the banks index, which posted a 4.42 percent weekly loss.

Greece's Alpha Bank was set to price a 500 million euro Tier 2 bond issue at a yield of 4.25 percent, according to a lead manager.

The Greek lender received around 5.5 billion euros of investor demand for the subordinated bond issue, the lead manager said.

Pricing is expected later on Thursday via lead managers Citi, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JP Morgan and NatWest Markets. 

Sodia Capital Management, the property market arm of Apollo Global Management, is looking forward to the modernization of the instrument for online auctions in a way that will turn it into another channel for property transactions.

Police on Monday were probing a series of overnight arson attacks in different parts of Attica.

The perpetrators targeted a car dealership, vehicles, a bank ATM and a cafe, causing damage but no injuries. 

Greece's four systemic banks have canceled or are planning to cancel and replace up to 15,000 credit and debit cards, after the payment card data used by some of their customers on a Greek online tourist services portal was hacked.