The Bank of Greece has blocked funding towards Attica Bank and rejected the appointment of a new bank president. This dramatic development came after the home of the BoG Governor Yannis Stournaras was raided by corruption prosecutors, over his wife’s alleged involvement in an advertising scandal.
Aside from blocking funding towards Attica Bank, the Bank of Greece rejected the appointment of Gerasimos Sapoutzoglou as president and only accepted the appointment of Panagiotis Roumeliotis as a non-executive officer in the bank’s board, rather that the position of managing director. The appointments of Anna Pouskouri and Konstantinos Makedos were also rejected.
According to a report in the Avgi newspaper, these developments constitute ‘direct threats’ from the central banker against the entire financial system. This development, the newspaper claims, occurred in spite of Mr. Stournaras having agreed with the Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras that the investigation will not affect the relationship between the Bank of Greece and the government. The two have also reportedly arranged to meet after the PM’s return from Bratislava.
Trading of bank shares temporarily suspended
The Athens Stock Exchange announced on Friday, shortly after opening, that trading on Attica Bank’s stock has temporarily been suspended, until the administrative changes within the bank have concluded. At the time that the suspension was announced, the bank’s shares were retreating by 3.45% for 0.056 euros, while 76,084 shares traded hands.
