EN ECB-PUBLIC  
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
5 April 2012 
on the recapitalisation and resolution of credit institutions in Greece 
(CON/2012/25) 
 Introduction and legal basis
 
On 25 February 2012, the European Central Bank (E CB) received a request from the Greek Ministry of 
Finance for an opinion on a draft law amending the legal framework for the recapitalisation and 
resolution of credit institutions in Greece (hereinafter  the ‘draft law’), on whic h the ECB issued Opinion 
CON/2012/14 on 28 February 2012. On the same date  the ECB received a supplementary request from 
the Ministry for an opinion on draft provisions in troducing further amendments to the draft law 
(hereinafter the ‘first amending provisions’). The Gr eek Parliament adopted them on 28 February 2012 as 
Law 4051/20121. Furthermore, on 7 March 2012 the ECB r eceived a request for an opinion on draft 
provisions amending Law 4051/2012 (hereinafter the ‘second amending provisions’). The Greek Parliament adopted them on 8 March 2012 as Law 4056/2012
2. 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an  opinion is based on Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the 
Functioning of the European Union and the third and si xth indents of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 
98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on th e consultation of the ECB by national authorities regarding draft 
legislative provisions, as the draft law relates to the Bank of Greece and to rules applicable to financial 
institutions insofar as they materially influence th e stability of financial institutions and markets. In 
accordance with the first 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 provisions 
1.1  The draft provisions will further align the Greek legal framework fo r the recapitalisation and 
resolution of credit institutions with the financial sector and other objectives
3 s e t  o u t  i n  t h e  
Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies4 (MEFP), by amending Law 3864/2010 on the 
Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (hereinafter the ‘Law on the HFSF’), Law 3601/2007 (hereinafter 
                                                 
1  FEK Α 40/29.02.2012. 
2  FEK A 52/12.03.2012. 
3  See paragraphs 1 and 2 of ECB opinion CON/2012/14. Al l ECB opinions are availabl e on the ECB’s website at 
www.ecb.europa.eu. 
4  Annex V to Law 4046/2012. FEK A 28/14.2.2012.  
ECB-PUBLIC  
2 referred to as the ‘Banking Law) and Law 3746/ 2009 on the Hellenic Deposits and Insurance 
Guarantee Fund (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Law on the HDIGF’).  
1.2 The purpose of the first amending provisions is ma inly to: (i) further specify aspects of the Law on 
the HFSF, with a view to fostering best pr actice in decision-making transparency and 
accountability within the HFSF’s General Council and Executive Board. They set out more detailed 
rules on their modus operandi and the HFSF’s tasks; (ii) furthe r specify transitional credit 
institutions and the ranking of creditors’ claims ag ainst credit institutions under special liquidation; 
and (iii) further specify the contributions of cred it institutions to the HDIGF Resolution Branch, the 
ranking of claims of HDIGF branches against cred it institutions under speci al liquidation and the 
ranking of depositor claims. 
1.3 The second amending provisions: (i) further specify  the scope of the HDIGF’s investment authority 
to ensure adequate diversification of investme nts; (ii) clarify certain  governance aspects for the 
HFSF and the HDIGF; and (iii) in view of financ ial developments, increase the total amount of 
State guarantees to the Bank of Greece by 50%.  
 2. General observations  
2.1 The ECB received the additional consultation re quests on 28 February and 7 March 2012, while the 
respective draft legislation was adopted by the Greek Parliament on 28 February and 8 March 
2012, respectively. As underlined in several ECB opinions
5, even in cases of extreme urgency 
national authorities are not relieved from their duty to consult the ECB and to allow sufficient time to take the ECB’s views into account as laid dow n in Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty. 
Article 3(4) of Decision 98/415/EC obliges Member States to suspend the process of adoption of draft legislative provisions pending receipt of the ECB’s opinion. Article 4 of Decision 98/415/EC provides that the ECB must be consulted ‘at an  appropriate stage’ in the legislative process
6, 
‘enabling the authority initiating the draft legisla tive provision to take into consideration the ECB’s 
opinion before taking its decision on the substanc e’. Member States must also ensure ‘that the 
opinion received from the ECB is brought to the know ledge of the adopting authority if the latter is 
an authority other than that which has prep ared the legislative provisions concerned’. 
2.2 In relation to the recent amendments to the b asic legal framework underlying the resolution and 
recapitalisation of credit institutions in Greece, the ECB refers to Opinion CON/2012/14. Overall 
the ECB welcomes the amending provisions which appear to complement this basic legal 
framework in line with the MEFP.  
                                                 
5  See the most recent ECB opinion s CON/2012/4, CON/2012/9 and CON/2012/13. 
6  This implies that the consultation should take place at a point in the legislative process that affords the ECB sufficient 
time to examine the draft legi slative provisions and to adopt its opinion in  all required language versions, and also 
enables the relevant national authorities to take the ECB’s opinion into account before the provisions are adopted. 
ECB-PUBLIC  
3 3. HDIGF’s status as privileged creditor 
Articles 13 Α(4) and 4(16) of the Law on the HDIGF, resp ectively amended by pa ragraphs 45 and 46 of 
the first amending provisions, delimit the scope of the priority rule for the claims of HDIGF branches 
against a credit institution under special liquidati on and for depositor claims, by reference to the 
provisions of the Greek Bankruptcy Code on privileged claims7. Moreover, paragraph 43 of the first 
amending provisions adds a new paragraph 4 to Article 68 of the Ba nking Law, to provide that where the 
special liquidation of a credit institution involves claims  with a privilege over a cer tain thing or amount of 
money, Article 156 of the Greek Bankruptcy Code applies, except to rights resulting from financial 
collateral arrangements within the me aning of Article 2 of Law 3301/20048, in which case the collateral 
taker is satisfied from the collateral in full, to the exclusion of all other claims under Article 154 of the 
Bankruptcy Code and Articles 13 Α(4) and 4(16) of the Law on the HDIGF. The ECB welcomes these 
draft provisions, as they clarify the scope of the prio rity rule by reference to the Greek bankruptcy code 
provisions on privileges and to the Greek legislati on transposing Directive 2002/47/EC of the European 
Parliament and of the Council of 6 June  2002 on financial collateral arrangements9, for the purposes of 
insulating claims under financial collateral arrangements as defined in the Directive. In this context the 
ECB understands that the priority of the Bank of Gre ece’s claims, in accordance w ith the latter’s statutory 
provisions, is not affected by the priority arrangements set out in the draft provisions.   
 
4. Increased State guarantee to the Bank of Greece  
Paragraph 1 of the second amendi ng provisions provides that the total amount of State guarantees under 
Decision of the Deputy Minister for Finance No 2/43219/0025/6.5.201110, as amended, will be increased 
by 50%. The ECB welcomes the increase of State guarantees to the Bank of Greece, on the basis of which liquidity may be disbursed by the Bank of Greece to solvent credit institutions with short term liquidity 
problems.
 
 
This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.   Done at Frankfurt am Main, 5 April 2012. 
 
[signed] 
The President of the ECB 
Mario DRAGHI 
                                                 
7  Law 3588/2007 (FEK A 153/10.7.2007). 
8  FEK A 263/23.12.2004. 
9  OJ L 168, 27.6.2002, p. 43. 
10  FEK Β 1143/06.06.2011.