Capital Markets & Financial Regulation News – Bank Holiday-July 2015
“Bank Holiday and Capital Controls in Greece” and “ECB’s OMT Programme is compatible with EU law, according to
European Court judgment”
From the 28.06.2015 a Bank Holiday has been imposed in
Greece by means of a Presidential Legislative Act (PLA) on
all credit institutions operating in Greece (Greek and foreign,
as specified by the provisions of the PLA), which has been
prolonged until the 19th July 2015 by means of a series of
Ministerial Decisions and subsequent PLAs. Apart from the
operation of the credit institutions, the operation of the
Greek Capital Market has been also suspended, by means
of a series of decisions of the Hellenic Capital Market
Commission. During the suspension of the operation of the
Greek Capital Market, only certain categories of actions are
permitted, as described by Athens Exchange.
Along with the Bank Holiday, the PLA imposed capital
controls in the Greek market, in the sense that only specific
categories of banking transactions were permitted during
the period of the Bank Holiday, mainly transactions
performed by means of credit, debit or pre- paid cards, by
distance (web-, or phone- banking), transactions of the
Greek State, etc., whereas a Banking Transactions
Approval Committee has been established, having the
competence to approve or not specific transactions that did
not fall into the scope of the permitted banking transactions
(such as payments to foreign accounts or transfer of
securities to foreign custodians, sales of securities to foreign
investors etc.). Since the 20.07.2015, when the Bank
Holiday was terminated, a series of new Capital Controls
has been established by the PLA of 18.07.2015, the
duration of which is not specified.
Capital Markets and Financial Regulation in Securities, Derivatives,Structured Finance and Corporate Governance
Bank Holiday and Capital Controls in Greece
- Short- term Bank Holiday
- Suspension of the Hellenic Capital Market’s operation
- Capital Controls regime
- Exceptions from the Capital Controls regime
- Special issues
The Banking Transactions Approval Committee
ECB’s OMT Programme is compatible with EU law, according to
European Court judgment
- Judgment of 16 June 2015 following a referral by the German
Constitutional Court - Framework of the OMT programme: strict conditionality focused on an
EFSF/ESM programme and monetary policy objective - OMTs fall within the powers of ECB under EU law
- OMTs do not infringe the prohibition of monetary financing (Art.123.1
TFEU) - Concerns on possible conflicts of interest
- Greece to enter a new ESM programme
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