Hellenic Financial Stability Fund

By Lorcan Roche Kelly & Marcus Bensasson

While the government has shown resourcefulness to last as long as it has without defaulting, Tsipras's actions have taken a visible toll on Greece's economy, banking system and markets. An immediate gauge of the cost comes in plunging market capitalization of the Athens Stock Exchange.

The Greek government asked for a 9-month-long extension to the current program that ends on June 30 under new terms and with new reforms. The goal is to reboot the stalled Greek economy with funds from the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and debt exchange between the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and the European Central Bank (ECB).

The Greek government named former banker Giorgos Michelis as chairman of the country?s bank rescue fund on Monday, which has been without a head since the resignation of both its chairman and chief executive earlier this year.

Georgios Michelis, a former executive at Emporiki Bank, is on track to become chairman of Greece?s bank rescue fund, according to two euro-area officials.

Cash-strapped Greece will cut the pay of bank bailout fund executives by 40 percent because their salaries are a "provocation" during a time of austerity cuts elsewhere, the finance ministry said on Friday.

Good news for at least one of Greece’s four systemic banks on Thursday, as Piraeus Bank said it has sealed a deal with Kuwait’s Al Ahli Bank to sell its 98.5-percent stake in Piraeus Bank Egypt (PBE) for US$150 million.

The agreement is subject to approval by the Egyptian central bank and the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF), amongst others.

Greek FinMin Yanis Varoufakis on Monday pointed to the “five keys” in negotiations with institutional creditors, speaking amid an increasingly dire situation in Greek state finances and renewed recession.

– Debt: Restructuring, not a “haircut”, but what he called a “smart swap and exchange”

– Paying the bonds held by the ECB via the ESM, with the latter paid off in the future

Fitch Ratings said in a statement on Tuesday that the Greek government?s intention to create a ?bad bank? is a positive step toward achieving reform because it recognized that high volumes of nonperforming loans (NPLs) are impeding new lending.

By Yiannis Papadoyiannis

Banks are concerned about the government?s insistence on strengthening the state?s presence in the local credit system.

 Debt settlement and collections from bank bailout fund and telecoms watchdog add 816 mln euros

By Sotiris Nikas