Expect Tectonic Shifts in Greek Banking Sector

Wall Street Journal
July 19, 2010

The long-awaited consolidation of the Greek banking sector has begun and promises to make the Mediterranean summer even hotter. Piraeus Bank, the fourth-largest local bank, fired the opening shot and now the socialist government and its other big three privately owned rivals must respond.

Piraeus caught the government and the local sector slightly off guard on July 15 with its all cash €701 million combined bid to acquire Greece’s equity stakes of 77.3% in ATEBank and 33% in Hellenic Postbank.

The government has long prodded local banks to consolidate, but it may not be getting all it wished for.

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