Delaying in the release of the sixth aid tranche and the PSI negotiations will delay the elections as well, Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos told the parliamentary economic committee of PASOK. “February 19th is a ‘conventional’ date” stressed Venizelos. The new transition coalition government partners had agreed on early election to take place on February 19th, 2012.
Corcerning the PSI and the privatization of greek banks due to haircut of Greek bonds Venizelos made clear:
The Greek State is about to obtain the majority stake of common shares of several Greek banks through the recapitalisation process after the haircut of bonds.
Greek FinMin Evangelos Venizelos does not rule out the prospect of a profitable deal for the state, as the share prices could resume an upward trend in the future.
The process is expected to launch in March and be completed in June 2012.
“We are not talking about nationalisation of banks,” the Minister told a parliamentary committee for economic affairs. He reiterated that the consolidation of banks, which face problems of capital adequacy, would be made by the Financial Stability Fund, provided that the required share capital increase is not covered by shareholders.
He added that Greece will press the Troika that the Capital Core Tier I would be 9% for Greek banks, against 10%. Then the cost of supporting banks and the rate of “nationalization” would decrease, while the FinMin heralded favourable tax rules for banks under recapitalization.
Meanwhile, the economic team insists that the recapitalization of financial institutions would be made with common shares rather than preference shares. FinMin Venizelos said that the preference shares that the state holds exceed the total market value of Greek banks. (source: Capital.gr)
