ATHENS (Dow Jones)-The National Bank of Greece (NBG), Greece's
largest bank by lending and assets, said Monday it has secured a
EUR4.7 billion repo line of funding using Greek bonds as
collateral.
"We have raised EUR4.7 billion from international banks, using
Greek government bonds as collateral. The duration of the
[repurchase agreements] is for 12 months at especially competitive
rates given current market conditions," National said in a
statement.
Greek banks had been frozen out of wholesale interbank markets
since the outbreak of the local sovereign crisis. And because their
deposit base has been shrinking, they had become very reliant on
the European Central Bank for liquidity.
National's move comes after Eurobank (EUROB.AT), the country's
second largest bank by lending, staged a return to the interbank
markets.
Analysts say National has best-in-class capital adequacy in
light of its successful EUR1.9 billion capital raising and its
plans to raise another EUR1 billion from a partial sale of its
Turkish unit Finansbank.
"This development represents a substantial step in the effort of
the Greek banking system to gradually restore access to
international capital markets, for the benefit of the whole Greek
economy," NBG added.
-By Nick Skrekas, Dow Jones Newswires; +30 210 2830685;
nick.skrekas@dowjones.com