Eurozone bailout fund releases money for ailing Greek bank
Europe’s eurozone bailout institution has approved a €2.72bn disbursement to recapitalise Greece’s ailing Piraeus Bank.
The amount is part of €10bn set aside for Greek banks under the country’s third international bailout, which was agreed on this year.
The fund, called European Stability Mechanism (ESM), said that Piraeus had covered about €2.2bn of a €4.93bn shortfall identified during recent stress tests on Greek banks, and that the stability mechanism would provide the remaining amount.
ESM head Klaus Regling said Greece had “cleared an important hurdle by securing sufficient interest for the recapitalisation among private investors.”
The ESM said the release of the remaining €7.28bn for the banks “will be decided on a case by case basis.”
