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The merger between the National Bank of Greece (NBG) and Eurobank is expected to take place in February this year. This became clear after the stock exchange commission officially approved the transaction and the vice executive manager of the National Bank of Greece, Petros Christodoulou, confirmed the information. The proposal of the National Bank of Greece provides for the acquiring of all ordinary shares of Eurobank and the issuing of new shares with a nominal value of one euro per share. 58 shares of the new scheme will correspond to 100 shares of the old Eurobank. The main shareholders of Eurobank, who hold slightly more than 43% of the capital of the bank, are obliged to launch their shares for public offering. Then, the merger between the two financial institutions will take place. The merger is expected to be legally closed in mid summer.

The new scheme will retain the majority of the staff but at least 25% of the total trade offices of the two banks are expected to be closed after the merger. The main short-term objective of the management of the financial institution will be to complete the recapitalisation, which should happen by April 2013. Then, the bank expects to stabilize its positions in the country in order to be able to come back on the market and begin to restore the financing of the real business, which has recently declined.

The head of the National Bank of Greece, Alexandros Tourkolia, states that the management wants to ensure the creation of a strengthened financial institution. It should be ready to appear on the international market as a credible player after the macroeconomic situation in the country begins to stabilize. Bankers believe that Greece will return to the right path sooner or later. They want to be prepared to meet the business needs in the process of reform and of restoring economic growth.

Meanwhile, the National Bank of Greece has requested the postponement of the privatisation of Post Bank in order not to affect its merger with Eurobank. Under the plan, Post Bank will be divided into "good" and "bad" as was the case with ATEbank (Agricultural Bank). The healthy part of the bank will be sold to a strategic investor. So far, the National Bank of Greece, Eurobank, Attika Bank and Alpha Bank have declared their interest in it. If the government does not allow the delay of the privatisation of Post Bank, the National Bank of Greece will probably withdraw its proposal in order to complete the merger with Eurobank.