Maybe the French plan wasn't the best solution. Individuals are not interested enough in taking risks in Greece and the Greek government is forced to extend the maturity of the rollover bonds until 2024. So far Athens had proposed to limit the supply of bonds with maturities no later than 2020, but the Finance Minister Evagelos Venizelos said yesterday in a radio interview that the maturity of the bonds could be extended to raise the necessary amount. “We need to identify €150bn worth of securities maturing by 2020 – or even a little beyond – to reach the €135bn target”, or a stake of around 90%.
A Eurozone official, quoted by the Wall Street Journal, he said that the amount allocated by private creditors, in bonds for 15 to 30 years, has so far reached "65 billion euros, less than expected" and less than half of the 135 billion expected. The official also added that the final deal would be held in September instead of August as originally agreed.
It could be another blow to European banks and insurers. Q21 revenues showed losses of 2024% in Greek bonds held in banking sector portfolios. Furthermore, the difficulty of the Eurozone in following the French plan and involving the private sector in the Greek redemption is coming to light. French banks, which are heavily exposed to Athens' debt and have been hit by speculation about a possible cut to France's triple A, could be at risk. “If the maturity of Greek bonds is extended to XNUMX, it could mean greater depreciation of the assets of French banks exposed to Greek debt,” an analyst told the Wall Street Journal.
