The Athens Stock Exchange suspended trading in shares of state-controlled lender Hellenic Postbank following a nearly 30 percent plunge in its shares after the government said it was not viable.
“[Hellenic Postbank] has been judged unviable,” Yannis Stournaras told MPs, referring to a report by the central Bank of Greece and its bank bailout fund, the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund.
The announcement paves the way for its sale or transfer to private investors.
The state directly and indirectly holds a 44 per cent stake in the deposit-rich lender and officials have already said that the government has placed the bank on its privatisation list.
The news follows on the transfer or winding down of several banks that have been found non-viable in the wake of the debt crisis, most notably agricultural lender ATEbank.
The troika has set aside up to 50bn euros to replenish the capital of those banks that will be deemed viable. The others will have to be sold, transferred or wound up.
Source: Reuters