(Reuters) -
A review of the European banking sector due to be released on Oct. 26 should
bring clarity on Greece's funding needs, the head of the monetary union's
bailout fund said on Monday.
Regling said the European Central Bank's
asset quality review (AQR) of 130 leading banks would show how much money
Greece has left in its existing bank bailout fund and how much more it would
need from emergency sources.
"This is not completely clear at the
moment because Greece is waiting for the results of the AQR and stress
tests," he said.
Greece's bank bailout fund HFSF has 11.4
billion euros in leftover money which Athens wants to use as a reserve to cover
its funding needs after the end of the year, when it hopes to exit its EU/IMF
bailout program.
"There is some uncertainty. There will be
continued talks in the next Eurogroup in November, December to decide what to
do," Regling said.
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras told
Reuters on Friday one option Greece was a credit line that Athens could tap
post-bailout should it fall prey to future market turmoil.
Regling also told reporters some countries
wanted to use ESM funds to support growth but it was necessary to have a
buffer.
"As a crisis institution it is
important to have a lot of unused firepower," he told reporters. "We
all know that as we move out of this crisis there will be another crisis one
day," he said during a visit to Slovakia.
The ESM was set up to safeguard and provide
instant access to financial assistance programs for euro zone members in
financial difficulty. It has a maximum lending capacity of 500 billion euros. Berlin
has said it was against plans to add tasks to the ESM. A change in the fund's
mandate would need consent from all 18 euro zone member states.
(Πηγή: reuters.com)
