Thus presented, the bank mergers and alliances may seem almost chaotic, but it is not at all like that. All those negotiations, options, contacts, and studies are carried out under the strict eye of the International Monetary Fund, which has developed a three-step plan for the consolidation of the Greek banking sector. The first step provides for increased monitoring by the Bank of Greece, which will require from the commercial banks more frequent and more quick to provide data on their condition as well as about their operation under extremely adverse conditions. Depending on the results of the stress tests as a second step the supervisors will recommend to the respective financial institution to increase its equity capital. This can be done in several ways - if the shareholders “reach deeper into their pocets” and provide by themselves the additional capital, if new strategic investors are found or if the bank turns to the services of the specifically created for this purpose fund for fiscal stability. In case the bank turns to financing by the Fund it also undertakes its management. The third step provides for the weakest points of the Greek banking system to proceed to merger with large and stable institutions, both inside Greece and abroad.
    Times are really hard for bankers in Athens. Their agenda is piled with meetings, constantly some important negotiations are being done, they stopped giving interviews to journalists. This however, made the Nobel laureate Nuriel Rubini, know also as the Cassandra of the international markets. "Despite the enormous plan to save the Greek economy, the public debt and fiscal reform are so great that ultimately Greece will either go bankrupt, or it will defer its payments to creditors. Of course, there is the possibility for Greeceto be forced to leave the European Union," said the famous economist in an interview for Bloomberg / Businessweek.
    The situation on the Athens stock Exchange looks as a continuance to his words. During the week its index was moving within unenviable ranges of 1500-1600 points, and registered a decline from the beginning of the year by 34 percent. Some analysts have even begun to talk about the end of the Athens Stock Exchange in the event that the foreign investors who control 50 percent of the capitalization on the exchange decide to withdraw.