27/5/15: No ELA Increase amidst Deposits Flight: Greece

Three quick updates to my earlier post on things getting crunch-time(y) in Greece:

Firstly, the U.S. is stepping up its pressure on the European 'leadership' to take Greek risks more seriously: U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew : "My concern is not the good will of the parties -- I don't think anyone wants this to blow up -- but ... a miscalculation could lead to a crisis that would be potentially very damaging". Talks are going to be toasty at G7 summit and this time around not down to Vladimir Putin.


Secondly, as I said in the earlier post, we have EUR3 billion cushion left when it comes to Greek banks ELA and increases in ELA approvals by the ECB are getting smaller by week. So here's the bad news: "Greek banks have seen deposit outflows accelerate over the past week as fears rise that the euro zone country will default on debt, two banking sources said on Wednesday." This is via Reuters. Remember, last hike in ELA was EUR200 million. And today, ECB decided not to increase ELA limit - a sign that Frankfurt is getting edgy. Guess what: "The past week in May was more challenging compared to the previous ones in the month, with daily outflows of 200 to 300 million euros in the last few days," a senior Greek banker said. This might be mild after outflows of EUR12.5 billion in January and EUR7.57 billion in February, but the latest increase in outflows is coming on foot of already weak deposits and signals renewed increase in pressures. Outflows are up in April to ca EUR5 billion from EUR1.91 billion in March.

Thirdly, we now have rumours of real capital controls coming in: Athens introduced a 'small charge' on ATM withdrawals. Despite this glaringly 'capital control'-like measure, Athens subsequently said it has ruled out capital controls. But, two days ago, Greek opposition lawmaker Dora Bakoyianni said "the country could be forced into capital controls to stem deposit outflows if it did not reach a deal for aid with the government this week". And on May 20, Moody's issued a statement saying that capital controls in Greece are now "highly likely".

and CDS markets are not impressed, again...

Though the bond markets are actually pricing in continued ECB 'cooperation' - across all of the euro area peripherals:

The Euro Saga continues…