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)
Date: 2007-05-08
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Eurosystem, Greece, financial stability, monetary policy, national law, payment system

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  indents  of  Article 2(1)  of  Council  Decision  98/415/EC  of 

29 June  1998  on  the  consultation  of  the  European  Central  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 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 amendments 

As set out in the Explanatory Note accompanying the 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  collateral  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  accordance  with  Guideline 
ECB/2000/7 of 31 August 2000 on monetary policy instruments and procedures of the Eurosystem2, 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 intended to improve the functioning of payment systems 

through  increased  protection  of  funds  held  in  accounts  in  such  systems,  including  the  future  Greek 

component  of  TARGET2,  the  new  central  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  control  of  the  management  of  social  security  benefits 

1  
2  

OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
OJ L 310, 11.12.2000, p. 1. Guideline as last amended by Guideline ECB/2006/12 (OJ L 352, 13.12.2006, p. 1). 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
granted to its staff, with such control to be performed 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 anticipating 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 will be extended to credit claims 

such as bank loans and other bank credits. The ECB understands that this is intended to reflect the 

recent changes to the Eurosystem collateral framework 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 systems 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 Greece3. 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  law,  transposed  into  Greek  law  (Article  4 

L. 3301/2004).  The  ECB  proposes  including  a  reference  to  claims  in  addition to  securities  in  the 

draft  amendment  of  the  second  paragraph  of  Article  57A  of  the  Statute  of  the  Bank  of  Greece, 

where  the  following  is  stated:  ‘or,  if  the  securities  are  due  and  payable,  cash  them  on  its  own 

behalf’. 

3  

The second indent of Article 55(5) of the Bank of Greece’s Statute refers to systems for the netting, settlement and, in 
general, clearing of payments, as well as systems for the conclusion, netting, settlement and, in general, clearing of over-
the-counter transactions regarding securities in physical or book-entry form and other financial instruments. 

2 

 
 
                                                 
3.4  Under general Greek law, the attachment may not prejudice existing security interests or rights of 

set-off,  so  that  transactions  processed  in  payment  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  provide  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 exemption 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 enforceability 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 those 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 argumentation 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  participate  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  functions,  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  independence  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 

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