Piraeus Bank

The Bank of Greece has submitted a request to the European Commission's Directorate-General for Competition for Attica Bank to draw cash from the emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) mechanism through the issue of Greek state bonds that will be used as collateral.

The Greek bourse moved in line with the majority of eurozone markets on Wednesday, posting a mild correction after two sessions of gains for most of its stocks. Turnover dropped again as traders await the outcome of this weekend's annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and Monday's Eurogroup.

The Greek bourse failed to match the momentum recorded on other European stock markets on Wednesday, posting marginal gains on very low trading volume. OPAP gaming company and a few other blue chips kept the main index afloat despite the notable decline of banks.

In the most beautiful side of Ioannina, where the castle of the town dominates, a new museum is was inaugurated by the President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos.

Greece's Piraeus Bank will sell part of its 28 percent stake in insurer European Reliance to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a Piraeus official said on Wednesday.

Piraeus, Greece's largest lender by assets, plans to divest the entire stake as part of a restructuring plan which entails the disposal of non-core assets.

Talking to German newspaper ‘Borsen Zeitung’, Greek banker Michalis Salas expressed his optimism that Greece was now in a better position to pay off its debts to the ECB.

During last November it was attempted to lead Piraeus Bank, the largest bank in Greece, to a resolution without, though, succeeding, since the management of the bank acted immediately. In this way, some people tried to directly take control of a large part of Greek economy and domestic entrepreneurship.

Greece's finance ministry on Dec. 8 said it had lifted capital controls imposed in June on its stock market, but kept in place a short selling ban on the shares of its top banks.

The Commission concluded that the measures already implemented as part of the bank’s existing restructuring plan of July 2014, in addition to those envisaged in the amended plan, will enable Piraeus Bank to ensure lending to the Greek economy in line with EU state aid rules, in particular the 2013 Banking Communication, and the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive.

The Athens Stock Exchange opened with a slight increase at 0.13% in the first few minutes on Tuesday before a 5% drop. The basic share price index later stabilized at 3.83% standing at 642.49 points at 11 a.m. and marking turnover at 16.26 mln euros.

The FTSE/ASE Large Index for blue chip and heavily traded stocks was down 5.43% and the FTSE/ASE Mid Cap index dropped by 2.36%.