GREECE: HCMC publishes decision on Greece short selling ban in bank shares

Thursday January 31 2013

The Hellenic Capital Markets Commission has published a decision providing further details of the Greece short selling ban in bank shares that it announced on 329 January.

Greece short selling of shares of credit institutions admitted to trading on the Athens Exchange and comprising the FTSE/Athex Banking Index is prohibited from 1 February, irrespective of the place where the transaction is executed (organised market, MTF or OTC). In particular, the measure applies to the following shares:

• ALPHA BANK Α.Ε.
• ATTICA BANK S.A.
• NATIONAL BANK OF GREECE S.A.
• EUROBANK ERGASIAS S.A.
• CYPRUS POPULAR BANK PUBLIC CO LTD
• PIRAEUS BANK S.A.
• BANK OF CYPRUS PUBLIC COMPANY LTD

The short selling prohibition includes sales which are covered by subsequent intraday purchases, and applies to all depository receipts (ADRs, GDRs) representing shares of the above mentioned credit institutions.

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

All above exemptions concern transactions conducted for hedging purposes in the ambit of market making activities.

The measures will be in effect until 30th April 2013. The previous prohibition which applied from 8th August 2011 and covered all shares and units of ETFs listed on the Athens Stock Exchange shall lapse on 1st February 2013.

Click on the above link for the HCMC press release.