Moody's: Greek banks likely to sell Romanian subsidiaries, rather than cut financing lines

Greek banks are not likely to cut significant financing lines for their Romanian subsidiaries any time soon, but in case of a sovereign crisis, if they will need capital, they could consider selling local subsidiaries, according to Moody's rating agency, quoted by Mediafax newswire. ATEbank has already announced plans to sell its stake in ATEbank Romania. “We don't expect Greek banks to withdraw significant capital funds from their Romanian subsidiaries any time soon. But they could consider selling them, similarly to the Eurobank EFG sale of its Polish subsidiary to Raiffeisen Bank,” said Nondas Nicolaides, senior analysts with Moody's, quoted by Mediafax. Moody's has downgraded Greece three notches, from B1 to Caa1, an 'extremely speculative' level, on debt restructuring fears. Greece has also received a negative perspective to its rating, warning new downgrades could follow. According to Moody's, Greece's default on its state debt could affect other countries in the Euro zone and would impact Greek banks. editor@romania-insider.com