GREECE: Further extension of Greece short selling ban

Tuesday December 8 2015

The Hellenic Capital Market Commission has announced that it has decided to extent the prohibition on short selling of shares of credit institutions admitted to trading on the Athens Exchange and comprising the FTSE/Athex Banks Index.

The ban applies irrespective of the venue where the transaction is executed (regulated market, multilateral trading facility – MTF or over the counter- OTC).

The temporary prohibition of short selling includes sales which are covered by subsequent intraday purchases and applies to depository receipts (ADRs, GDRs) and warrants representing shares of credit institutions admitted to trading on the Athens Exchange and comprising the FTSE/Athex Banks Index. This is:

• ALPHA BANK Α.Ε.
• ATTICA BANK S.A.
• NATIONAL BANK OF GREECE S.A.
• EUROBANK ERGASIAS S.A.
• PIRAEUS BANK S.A.

The prohibition shall not apply to:
(a) Market Makers performing transactions on the above shares,
(b) Market Makers performing transactions on the stock derivatives of the above shares,
(c) Market Makers performing transactions on warrants of the above shares.
(d) Market Makers performing transactions on ETFs and Index derivatives of which the above shares are part of their composition.

All the above exemptions referred to market making activities permitted only when the short selling transactions are conducted for hedging purposes.
The measure are in force as of 00:00:01 hours (CET) on the 8th of December 2015 until 24:00:00 (CET) on the 21st of December 2015.

Click on the above link for details.