GREECE: Changes to Greece short selling ban

Thursday October 1 2015

The Hellenic Capital Market Commission has announced a relaxation of its emergency measures on short selling.

The HCMC has decided to prohibit only the short selling of shares of credit institutions admitted to trading on the Athens Exchange and comprising the FTSE/Athex Banks Index, irrespective of the venue where the transaction is executed or OTC transactions. The temporary prohibition of short selling applies to all 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:

• Market Makers performing transactions on the above shares,
• Market Makers performing transactions on the stock derivatives of the above shares,
• Market Makers performing transactions on warrants of the above shares.
• 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 shall be in force as of 00:00:01 hours (CET) on the 1st of October 2015 until 24:00:00 (CET) on the 9th of November 2015.

Click on the above link for more details.