Banking

Joining the chorus of regulators calling for a crackdown on cryptocurrencies, the French and German finance ministers said digital tokens "could pose substantial risks for investors" and potentially long-term financial stability.

"New money" in banks - deposits to which the capital controls do not apply - are close to 30 billion euros, according to banking sources. In just one year the amount has doubled, as in early 2017 it stood at some 15 billion euros.

Greek banks expect a considerable increase in the inflow of deposits within 2018: As a baseline scenario, the four systemic lenders project the rise in deposits from households and enterprises to top 7 billion euros, with the optimistic scenario putting the figure at more than 15 billion euros.

The Federal Reserve has left its benchmark interest rate unchanged but signaled that it expects to resume raising rates gradually to reflect a healthy job market and economy.

The world's biggest lender, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), is poised to receive a license to operate in Greece, with sources telling Kathimerini that negotiations are already at an advanced stage.

A new synthetic euro area bond would be nearly as safe as German debt, helping the bloc avert a future crisis and breaking a vicious circle of lending by banks to their national governments, Europe's financial risk watchdog said on Monday.

Credicom is gearing up to launch a radically new digital bank with the creation of a strategic network of about 40 small low-cost kiosks, and an ambitious plan for financing small and medium-sized enterprises as well as private customers.

Banks intend to buy back four out of every five properties that go under the hammer this year, in an effort to prevent a collapse of prices on the real estate market, sector sources have told Kathimerini.

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi on Wednesday said that while Greek authorities have made "welcome" progress in recent weeks to speed up foreclosures and help banks reduce their huge pile of nonperforming loans, more needs to be done "to ensure full geographical coverage across Greece."

National Bank of Greece has brought its dependence on the central bank's emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) mechanism down to zero.

This satisfies the pledge NBG's management had made for disengagement from the expensive system of cash supply by the end of 2017.