ATHENS--Greece's largest lender National Bank of Greece SA (NBG)
said Friday it will participate in the country's debt buyback
program, a move likely to be followed by the country's other
lenders.
The bank said its board had decided unanimously to participate
in the deal, part of a plan by Athens to reduce to its debt and
pave the way for more bailout loans.
Three other leading banks--Eurobank Ergasias SA, Alpha Bank AE
and Piraeus Bank SA--have all scheduled board meetings Friday to
discuss the deal, which ends at 1700 GMT.
Earlier senior banking officials said Greece's banks are ready
to hand over up to 100% of the Greek government bonds they hold for
the country's debt-buyback program if foreign investors don't offer
enough of their holdings.
Together the four lenders hold some 15 billion euros ($19.5
billion) of Greek government bonds.
Write to Alkman Granitsas at alkman.granitsas@dowjones.com and
Stelios Bouras at stelios.bouras@dowjones.com
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