23 July 2014

Greece: EU approves National Bank of Greece's restructuring plan

The European Commission has found the restructuring plan of the National Bank of Greece (NBG) to be in line with EU state aid rules. Measures already implemented and envisaged will enable the bank to restore its long term viability, while limiting distortions to competition.

Commission Vice President in charge of competition policy Joaquín Almunia said: "Through the restructuring plan, NBG will focus its activities on the strong Greek and Turkish banking operations and improve their efficiency. This will ensure that the bank can continue financing the Greek economy on a sustainable basis."

Since 2008, Greece and the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF) have granted repeated capital and liquidity support to NBG. The Commission temporarily approved the public support measures in July 2012 and opened an in-depth investigation to assess the compatibility of the measures with EU state aid rules. Greece notified the restructuring plan for NBG in June 2014.

NBG has already started to implement significant rationalisation measures such as a voluntary staff retirement scheme, salary cuts, branch closures and further cost cutting initiatives in Greece and South Eastern Europe. The restructuring plan continues this effort. It provides for a further restructuring of international operations and Greek non-core activities and a reinforcement of Greek banking operations, mainly through a rationalisation of operating expenses, a reinforcement of the net interest income and prudent risk management. NBG will decrease its shareholding in its Turkish subsidiary Finansbank, which will strengthen the capital position of NBG, but it will retain a majority shareholding. Finansbank has been steadily profitable over the last years. The implementation of these commitments will be monitored by an independent trustee.

Press Release

© European Commission