Financial markets

Alpha Bank on Wednesday announced it had successfully completed the issuance of a 500-million-euro senior preferred bond.

The issue attracted strong demand amounting to €1.3 billion, or roughly three times the initial target of €400 million.

Binance's Cyprus unit has applied to be removed from Cyprus' register of crypto asset service providers, the securities regulator website showed on Wednesday, without detailing the reason for the application.

It was unclear when Binance applied to deregister.

Τhe 10-year Greek benchmark bond yield has this week fallen to its lowest levels in 10 months, returning to levels last seen in August 2022. 

Traders said market sentiment remained positive despite comments made by European Central Bank officials over the possibility of fresh interest-rate increases. 

Eurozone government bond yields were headed for a weekly rise as robust economic data and hawkish remarks by central bank officials triggered some upward repricing in market bets about future European Central Bank rate hikes.

Dozens of experts and leaders in politics and business convened in Bled on 19 May for an international conference on crisis management hosted by the IEDC Bled - School of Management and Bloomberg Adria. Setting priorities and focusing on implementation were highlighted as key to success.

Cheaper access to the markets for raising liquidity and financing the economy will be the first benefits to be felt by local banks from the recovery of investment grade by the Greek state. This is expected to occur in the first half of 2024 or perhaps earlier depending on the outcome of the elections and political developments.

The housing market has recently evolved into one of the most profitable investments, with a return of up to 126% during the last five years (2017-2022).

Those brave enough to acquire an apartment in Attica during 2017 - i.e. when the real estate market began its recovery - are today the big winners, as they have seen the value of their investment more than double.

France will go ahead with structural reforms to overhaul its economy after credit ratings agency Fitch downgraded the country's debt worthiness, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has told AFP.    

Fitch downgraded France's debt worthiness a notch to "AA-" from "AA" on April 28, claiming the country's "fiscal metrics are weaker than peers".    

S&P Global Ratings (S&P) has revised the outlook for Bank of Cyprus to positive from stable, citing the easing of funding risks, a diversified business model and substantial progress in de-risking its balance sheet.

The reopening of a 10-year Greek bond issue was more than five times oversubscribed during an auction held on Wednesday. 

The Public Debt Management Authority said that bids totaled 1.7 billion euros, significantly up from the €300 million asked.