EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 8 May 2007 
at the request of the Bank of Greece on amendments to its Statute  
(CON/2007/13) 
 
 Introduction and legal basis
 
On 29 March 2007 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Bank of Greece for an 
opinion on a set of draft amendments to its Statute (hereinafter the ‘draft amendments’). 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an  opinion is based on Article 105(4) of the Treaty establishing the 
European Community and the third and fifth indent s of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 
29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European Ce ntral Bank by national authorities regarding draft 
legislative provisions1, as the draft amendments relate to the Bank of Greece and payment and settlement 
systems. In accordance with the firs t sentence of Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the European 
Central Bank, the Governing Council has adopted this opinion. 
 1.  Purpose of the draft amendments 
As set out in the Explanatory Note accompanying th e draft amendments, most of the proposed changes 
are intended to adapt the Bank of Greece’s Statute to recent developments in the Eurosystem’s collateral 
framework which specifies the assets acceptable as co llateral for Eurosystem credit operations. In this 
regard, the draft amendments support the acceptance by  the Bank of Greece of credit claims as collateral 
for monetary policy operations and the provision of intraday credit, in a ccordance with Guideline 
ECB/2000/7 of 31 August 2000 on monetary policy instruments and procedures of the Eurosystem
2, as 
incorporated into Greek law by the Act 61/6.12.2006 of the Monetary Policy Council of the Bank of Greece. In addition, the draft amendments are inte nded to improve the functioning of payment systems 
through increased protection of funds held in account s in such systems, including the future Greek 
component of TARGET2, the new ce ntral bank payment system currently under establishment by the 
Eurosystem. Finally, the draft amendments are intended  to enable the Bank of Greece, provided that there 
will be a further change to Greek law, to ensure c ontrol of the management of social security benefits 
                                                 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
2  OJ L 310, 11.12.2000, p. 1. Guidelin e as last amended by Guideline EC B/2006/12 (OJ L 352, 13.12.2006, p. 1). 
2 granted to its staff, with such control to be perfo rmed through a special purpose legal entity controlled by 
the Bank of Greece. 
 2. General observations  Most of the draft amendments address the Bank of Greece’s execution of monetary policy operations and 
its provision of intra-day credit. Other draft amendments are intended to further secure the safety of payment systems and provide increased protection from systemic risk. The ECB generally welcomes these draft amendments, as they support the conduct of monetary policy in Greece in accordance with the 
recent changes to the Eurosystem collateral framework and further enhance the smooth operation of 
Greek payment systems thereby already anticip ating the future TARGET2 legal framework.  
 3. Specific changes introduced by the draft amendments  3.1 The type of assets acceptable as collateral to the Bank of Greece w ill be extended to credit claims 
such as bank loans and other bank credits. The ECB unde rstands that this is intended to reflect the 
recent changes to the Eurosystem collateral framewo rk in which credit claims became eligible from 
1 January 2007 for Eurosystem credit operations in all euro area countries in accordance with the 
latest amendment to Guideline ECB/2000/7 of 31 August 2000 on monetary policy instruments and 
procedures of the Eurosystem. 
3.2 In addition, the Bank of Greece’s legal pledge securing its claims arising from monetary policy 
lending operations or transactions through the syst ems referred to in Article 55(5) of the Bank of 
Greece’s Statute will be extended to cover all assets deposited with the Bank of Greece
3. The ECB 
also notes that the Bank of Greece’s rights of pledge in relation to transactions through its 
component system of TARGET2 will be governed  by the future TARGET2 legal framework. A 
pledge on a claim arising out of bank loans or other bank credits is permissible under Greek law. 
3.3 The procedure for the realisation of eligible assets will become more flexible for the Bank of 
Greece. More specifically, the Bank of Greece will be  granted discretion to proceed to the sale or 
cash collection of pledged securities or claims immediately as the claims of the Bank of Greece become due and without communicating a written notice to the debtor prior to initiating a sale or cash collection, in accordance with Community la w, transposed into Greek law (Article 4 
L. 3301/2004). The ECB proposes including a referen ce to claims in addition to securities in the 
draft amendment of the second para graph of Article 57A of the Statute of the Bank of Greece, 
where the following is stated: ‘or, if the secu rities are due and payable, cash them on its own 
behalf’. 
                                                 
3  The second indent of Article 55(5) of the Bank of Greece’s St atute refers to systems for the netting, settlement and, in 
general, clearing of payments, as well as systems for the conc lusion, netting, settlement and, in general, clearing of over-
the-counter transactions regarding s ecurities in physical or book-entry form  and other financial instruments. 
3 3.4 Under general Greek law, the attachment may not  prejudice existing security interests or rights of 
set-off, so that transactions processed in pa yment systems or amounts already ear-marked for a 
transaction would be protected against attachment. To  improve protection of those systems, also in 
the case of attachment, the draft amendments pr ovide for an exemption from the attachment by 
third parties of accounts held in payment systems at the Bank of Greece. The ECB understands that the draft amendments thus constitute an exemp tion from the general provisions on set-off provided 
for in the Greek Civil Code, in particular AK 451 which prohibits any set-off of non-attachable 
claims, and do not prejudice the validity and enfor ceability of set-off rights of the Bank of Greece. 
Indeed, the draft amendments, which are limited to the specific situation of accounts held in 
payment systems or components thereof, do not impose a general prohibition against attachment 
and, under any circumstances, the claims dealt with under Article 57A of the Statute of the Bank of Greece are quite distinct from tho se enumerated as non-attachable in  Article 982 of the Greek Code 
of Civil Procedure. Thus, particularly in view of  the future requirements in this respect under the 
TARGET2 framework, the ECB welcomes this amendment. Furthermore, the ECB suggests extending the wording of the draft amendments to  expressly cover also settlement systems operated 
by the Bank of Greece, since the same argum entation also applies to those systems.  
3.5 Finally, the draft amendments would enable the Bank of Greece, following a further legislative 
provision to that effect, to establish or participat e in legal entities specialised in the support or 
specific pursuit of objectives related to its staff’ s social security, notwithstanding the prohibition 
against engaging in trade, having a direct interest in commercial, industrial or other enterprise and 
purchasing shares of other banks or corporations . Although the relationship between the Bank of 
Greece and any such specialised legal entities is not  yet specified, the ECB understands that, if the 
Bank of Greece performed or controlled such f unctions, it would assume full responsibility and 
liability for them, without prejudice to the provisions of the Treaty and the Statute, particularly those concerning central banks’ financial indepe ndence and the prohibition against monetary 
financing. 
 
This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.    Done at Frankfurt am Main, 8 May 2007. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET