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The Greek financial system is entering a new phase of its existence after the recapitalization. The National Bank of Greece and Alpha Bank have completed the procedure and collected 10% of their capital from new private investment and are ready to easily meet the challenges of the market. Piraeus Bank too has to increase its share capital which, according to experts, will not encounter any problems in raising capital from private investors. Piraeus Bank has left nothing to chance and reached an agreement with BCP and Societe Generale and it is expected that it will become the third largest commercial bank in the country that will avoid nationalization.

Financial analysts cited by To Vima newspaper emphasize that after three years of isolation from the capital market, the banks will again be able to return to normal functioning. According to the same sources, the increase in capital through collecting funds from private investors is the guarantee of investors’ confidence in the Greek banks.

Under the programme for collecting fresh private capital, the National Bank of Greece has attracted more than 500 million euro from abroad, which has not passed unnoticed in the country. George Provopoulos, president of the Bank of Greece, has expressed his satisfaction with the success of the local institutions. The supervisory authority considers that the recapitalization of the system is laying the foundations for further normalization of the activities of the banks which will again be able to undertake their main task which is to finance the real economy.

The candidates for the purchase of state-owned banks, namely Postbank and the nationalized Proton Bank, should be clarified as well. Postbank is first on the list of sales. It is expected that an official tender, consulted by Goldman Sachs, will be announced for it in the middle of the summer. "Everything that the financial stability fund offers is of interest to us," the National Bank of Greece states its position. The financial stability fund is a major shareholder in the state-owned banks and in those which have been saved from bankruptcy over the past two years.

The only major financial institution that had decided not to seek help from private investors was Eurobank. It has been fully supported by the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund and nationalized because of this. The initial plan of the managers of the Fund was to merge Postbank with Eurobank in order to make a more attractive offer to the foreign investors in the Greek market. After the interest expressed in Postbank, this plan has been cancelled and the state will offer for sale the two banks separately.

People familiar with the developments claim that the sale of subsidiaries and companies abroad will take place first and then subsequently the operating costs in the country will be optimized in order for the banks to become as attractive as possible for the new candidates. Eurobank has announced that so far it has collected 307 million euro in capital through redemption of shares.

In the mean time, Reuters reports that the unification processes of the banking system in the euro area will be delayed by three months. The first results will be reported in September next year instead of in the summer of 2014 as was initially planned. This is due to possible delays in the development of the legal framework regarding the activities of the European Central Bank which will play a crucial role as supervisor of the system. The centralisation of the European banking system will begin after the clarification of the legal procedures related to the project and it is expected that it will be completed by a final plenary vote of the European Parliament after a little more than a year.