The euro zone's body for dealing with failing banks said today it was in close contact with Greek regulators as the country's banks face tough times.
"Greek banks are living in a challenging economic environment,", Elke Koenig, chairman of the Single Resolution Board (SRB), told the European Parliament.
"But the promising part of that is they have a very engaged and very active resolution team. We are in close contact with our Greek colleagues," she added.
Ms Koenig said the Greek authorities are responsible for dealing with any national banking failure this year, although the SRB will be in charge of any collapses among the top four Greek banks from next year.
From next January, the SRB will be responsible for dealing with any failures among the euro zone's top 150 lenders.
Greek banks were some of the biggest decliners among European equities yesterday and suffered deposit outflows of about €400m as the pace of daily withdrawals picked up from last week, bankers said.
Last week rating agency Standard & Poor's cut its ratings on several banks across Europe but Koenig said she was "not concerned" about this.
The downgrade reflected a belief at the rating agency that governments will not be willing to bail out banks if they get into trouble, she said.
"It's reflecting they really believe in bail-in," Koenig said, referring to new rules that force a bank to hold bigger capital and debt cushions to shield taxpayers from having to intervene in a crisis.
The SRB is looking for temporary financing to deal with any bank collapse until a levy on lenders over eight years creates a permanent €55 billion fund.
The SRB could get credit lines from banks for up to €1 billion and tap markets for a further to €5-15 billion, she said.
Despite euro zone finance ministers agreeing in 2013 that a "last resort" public financing arrangement should be in place, no such arrangement exists yet, Koenig added.
Additionally, only seven countries have put into national law the new EU rules that make available the tools needed by resolution authorities like the SRB to deal with failed banks.
