Eurobank Ergasias

The improvement in the mood on global markets along with the rise in the prices of Italian and Greek bonds and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's rather measured financial pledges at the Thessaloniki International Fair over the weekend - which appeased traders - led to a significant rebound of Greek stocks on Monday after a week and a half of constant decline for the benchmark.

A group of Folli Follie's creditors are calling for an injunction protecting the Greek jewelry maker's assets to be lifted, saying they are due 44.5 million euros.

The second-quarter financial results of Greece's four systemic banks indicate that Eurobank, National, Piraeus and Alpha will need to increase the pace of bringing down their bad loans in the coming years to sustain profits and avoid a drop in capital. To that end they are diversifying their strategy and putting provisions on the back burner.

Greek banks Alpha and Eurobank posted weak second-quarter results on Thursday, with Alpha swinging to a loss and Eurobank barely profitable as both focus on shrinking their bad debt load.

The benchmark of the Athens Stock Exchange (ATHEX) retreated on Thursday following a sell-off in banking shares.

The ATHEX general index ended at 754.65 points, down 0.45 percent from Wednesday's 758.04 points, recording an intraday low of 753.89 points.

Alpha Bank and Eurobank are set to complete the sales of three portfolios of nonperforming loans valued at 4.7 billion euros by end-2018, bringing the total face value of loans unloaded by the country's four systemic banks above 20 billion euros (including interest).

Pressure on foreign markets and Greek bonds never leave local stocks unaffected, although the overall picture was quite mixed again on Thursday, with mid-caps making a recovery.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 755.93 points, easing 0.75 percent from Wednesday's 761.66 points.

Pressure on foreign markets and Greek bonds never leave local stocks unaffected, although the overall picture was quite mixed again on Thursday, with mid-caps making a recovery.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 755.93 points, easing 0.75 percent from Wednesday's 761.66 points.

SOFIA (Reuters) - French bank Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) is in final talks to sell its Bulgarian unit to Hungary's OTP Bank OTPB.BU and is likely to announce the deal this month, two sources familiar with the process said.

The top four Greek banks agreed to have Italy's doBank manage a combined 1.8 billion euros worth of their non-performing credit, the banks said on Wednesday.

DoBank will manage the non-performing debt held by Piraeus, National, Eurobank and Alpha of more than 300 Greek small and mid-sized businesses, facilitating restructuring when it's feasible, the banks said.