Monday, June 27, 2011

French Banks Ready to Help Greek Bailout

New York Times
June 27, 2011

French banks are ready to participate in the rescue of Greece by extending the maturity of their holdings of debt issued by that country, President Nicholas Sarkozy said Monday.

A plan is being worked on between the government and French lenders to reinvest, between now and 2014, 70 percent of their holdings of Greek debt into new securities with a duration of 30 years, he said.

Mr. Sarkozy said he hoped that the other European countries would adopt a similar plan. Germany had previously pushed hard to obtain a tough, compulsory private sector involvement in the Greek bailout but backed down amid opposition from France and the European Central Bank.

“We’ve been working on this with the banks and insurance companies,” Mr. Sarkozy said at a news conference in Paris. “We’re committed to going from a principal — the voluntary participation of the private sector — to concrete reality.”

More

No comments: