ECB Pulls The Trigger: Blocks Funding To Greece Via Debt Collateral – Full Statement
Just what the market had hoped would not happen…
- *ECB SAYS IT LIFTS WAIVER ON GREEK GOVERNMENT DEBT AS COLLATERAL
- *ECB SAYS IT CAN’T ASSUME SUCCESSFUL CONCLUSION OF GREECE REVIEW
What this means simply is that since Greek banks are now unable to pledge Greek bonds as collateral and fund themselves, and liquidity is about to evaporate, the ECB has effectively just given a green light for Greek bank runs, as suddenly it has removed, both mathematically but worse politically, a key support pillar from underneath the already bailed out Greek banking system, (or merely a negotiating move to let Greece see just what kind of chaos this will create ahead of the big D-Day on Feb 25th when ELA could be withdrawn).
And now finally, after many years of investing in ECB repo collateral, pardon Greek debt, Greek banks finally will ask what the “fundamental” value of all that Greek government debt they bought really is. Judging by the Greek ETF’s reaction, the answer is lower.
The only question now is whether the Greek Central Bank, which the ECB said is now sufficient to meet bank liquidity needs (via the ELA which the ECB has not yanked… yet: it has given Greece until February 28 before this final prop is yanked and Greece is left to drown), is allowed to print Euros. If not, the Greek experiment at trying to stick it to Europe is about to crash and burn spectacularly.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
