Greek central bank

An interview with Vitor Constancio, Vice President of the ECB, with daily Dutch newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad also included a focus on Greece:

Are you concerned about Greece and, if it comes to a Grexit, do you fear the spread of contagion affects to other euro area countries? 

By Marc Jones

Most top credit rating agencies say they would not cut Greece's rating to default if it misses a payment to the International Monetary Fund or European Central Bank, a stance that could keep vital ECB funding flowing into the financial system.

Greek five-year credit default swaps have been recently trading at more than 2,600 basis points, implying a default probability of almost 90 percent, according to data from Markit.

That compares with 8.8 percent in Spain, 11.5 percent in Italy and 13.5 percent in Portugal, as contagion chances appear limited.

"Why is Varoufakis laughing" is the caption under the photograph of Greek FinMin Yanis Varoufakis, in an editorial by Bloomberg columnist Mark Whitehouse.

By Jeff Black

European Central Bank Governing Council member Yannis Stournaras said a Greek exit from the euro area isn?t an option and wouldn?t help the country?s economy in the long term, as he urged the government to act quickly to agree on reforms with the country?s creditors.

A German couple visiting Greece were hailed as heroes by the local press Wednesday after paying 875 euros ($945) to a town hall in what they said were World War II reparations.

The European Central Bank increased the maximum Emergency Liquidity Assistance that Greek banks can get from their national central bank by 600 million euros ($637 million), according to two people familiar with the decision.

Back-and-forth statements between Greece’s lenders and the new leftist government have turned into a proverbial tug-of-war.

While the Greek side insists on clarifying that the Memorandum is over, ESM Managing Director Klaus Regling tried to bring the former back to reality, saying that the “Memorandum has not ended, nor has it been suspended by the loan agreement”.

Deposit outflows from Greek lenders slowed in March, staunching a run of steep declines that had fueled concerns about the country's banking system as it battles to avert a sovereign default.

Banks' deposits fell to 145 billion euros ($160 billion) from 147.5 bln euros in February, data from the European Central Bank showed on Wednesday.

By John O'Donnell & Paul Carrel

European Central Bank policymakers debated on Wednesday whether to allow more emergency funding for Greek banks with opinions divided as Athens came under pressure to accept an extended aid-for-reform programme.