Attica Bank, a bailout saga sapping public coffers

The case of Attica Bank, Greece’s fifth largest lender, is evolving into a bad movie with too many sequels as the lender proceeds with the second share capital increase in six months and the fourth in five years.

Although the objective had been to streamline the bank, strengthen its capital and eventually privatize it, all efforts to date have ended in indirect or even direct support with money from Greek taxpayers or from the workers insured by the engineers’ fund (TMEDE), one of the lender’s main stakeholders.

Once again, the bank bailout fund (HFSF) and pension funds will cover the bulk of the increase.