Bank of Greece

By Leonidas Stergiou

The amount of capital that was transferred out of Greek banks between late 2009, when the extent of Greece’s economic troubles started emerging, and ended in June 2012 as confidence in Greece began being restored, amounted to about 115 billion euros, a recent National Bank of Greece survey showed.

By Nikos Roussanoglou & Ilias Bellos

National Bank of Greece chief executive Alexandros Tourkolias on Wednesday confirmed Greek banks’ return to the financing of the shipping industry.

Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras has called for a compromise between Athens and the troika in an interview with Sunday’s Kathimerini, while also insisting that the eurozone should provide Greece with further debt relief.

Greek retail sales by volume rose 2.2 percent in September compared to the same month last year, after a downwardly revised 7.3 percent increase in August, the country’s statistics service ELSTAT said on Friday.

Sales volumes rose for the fourth month in a row, pointing to a boost in consumer spending in the third quarter as the economy recovers from a protracted slump.

Turkey's Finansbank, owned by National Bank of Greece, said on Tuesday it secured a syndicated loan in two tranches of $397 million and 356 million euro ($442.6 million).

The loans will be used to finance foreign trade and has a maturity of 1 year, said the statement to the Istanbul stock exchange. [Reuters]

By Sotiris Nikas

The surplus in the current account balance showed a significant widening in the first nine months of the year against the same period in 2013, reflecting the increase in the economy’s competitiveness.

European Central Bank funding to Greek banks rose 3 percent in October, Greek central bank data showed on Wednesday.

ECB funding rose to 43.85 billion euros last month from 42.56 billion euros in September.

Greek banks have reduced their exposure but still depend on ECB funding for liquidity.

Greek bonds rose on Wednesday, with the 10-year yield falling 13 basis points to 8.04 percent, a day after Deputy Prime Minister Evangelos Venizelos (photo) said that Greece aims to complete a review of its finances with its troika of creditors by December 8.

Trading of Greek government debt through the electronic secondary securities market, or HDAT, was 23 million euros on Tuesday.

By Yiannis Papadoyiannis

National Bank of Greece on Wednesday announced it intends to go ahead with the sale of some of its shares in Turkish subsidiary Finansbank, alongside the latter’s share capital increase. However it will retain a 60 percent stake in the Turkish lender.

Six people, including two Financial Crimes Squad (SDOE) employees and a Finance Ministry employee, were arrested on Monday over bribery and extortion charges, the Greek police department announced on Tuesday.