Sell Off Prompts Greek Banks to Spring Clean Balance Sheets
- Piraeus hits its lowest ever share price after 30% drop
- Lenders said to promise ECB new targets for cutting bad loans
Photographer: Kostas Tsironis/Bloomberg
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Greek bank stocks reeled amid growing concerns about their need for more capital, even as the biggest lenders were said to set ambitious new targets for reducing their piles of bad debt.
The benchmark FTSE Athex banks index dropped almost 9 percent on Wednesday, after earlier in the day slipping as much as 18 percent. Piraeus Bank SA closed 21 percent lower, having slumped 30 percent to the lowest ever after Chief Executive Officer Christos Megalou told Reuters that the bank is looking for an opportunity to issue debt to boost capital. Bloomberg reported on Friday that the ECB told the lender to increase capital this year.