ATHENS, March 1 (Reuters) - EFG Eurobank, Greece's second-largest lender, concluded 1.0 billion euros ($1.4 billion) of new repo lines with four foreign banks using Greek government bonds as collateral, it said on Tuesday.
It was Eurobank's first funding deal in the interbank market this year after prying open the wholesale funding market late last year with repo lines of up to 4 billion euros.
'Eurobank's deals in the international market constitute a first opening of capital markets for Greek lenders, an important development on the long road towards normalisation of money markets,' Eurobank Deputy CEO Nick Karamouzis said in a statement.
Having lost access to interbank funding because of Greece's sovereign debt crisis, the country's lenders have grown dependent on European Central Bank (ECB) funding.
ECB funding to Greek banks has reached 95 billion euros or about 19 percent of their total assets.
Eurobank said the new funding deals were agreed on particularly competitive terms -- euribor plus a spread ranging from 150 to 200 basis points.
(Reporting by George Georgiopoulos; Editing by David Holmes)
($1=.7234 Euro) Keywords: GREECE EUROBANK/ (george.georgiopoulos@reuters.com; +30210 3311813; Reuters Messaging:george.georgiopoulos.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
It was Eurobank's first funding deal in the interbank market this year after prying open the wholesale funding market late last year with repo lines of up to 4 billion euros.
'Eurobank's deals in the international market constitute a first opening of capital markets for Greek lenders, an important development on the long road towards normalisation of money markets,' Eurobank Deputy CEO Nick Karamouzis said in a statement.
Having lost access to interbank funding because of Greece's sovereign debt crisis, the country's lenders have grown dependent on European Central Bank (ECB) funding.
ECB funding to Greek banks has reached 95 billion euros or about 19 percent of their total assets.
Eurobank said the new funding deals were agreed on particularly competitive terms -- euribor plus a spread ranging from 150 to 200 basis points.
(Reporting by George Georgiopoulos; Editing by David Holmes)
($1=.7234 Euro) Keywords: GREECE EUROBANK/ (george.georgiopoulos@reuters.com; +30210 3311813; Reuters Messaging:george.georgiopoulos.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
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