Finance
Europe’s Bank Bailout Era Draws to End With States Selling
- Disposals pick up as governments cash in on higher valuations
- Greece returned entire industry to private ownership in a year
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In the course of just one year, Greece has mostly sold its vast stakes in the banking sector, a microcosm of moves across Europe as governments seek to draw a line under the financial crisis which gripped the region over a decade ago.
A recent stake sale in National Bank of Greece added to a program that has earned the government €3.5 billion ($3.8 billion) in the last 12 months and effectively transferred an entire sector back to private ownership.