Michael Sallas: “Individuals must stay out of the PSI”

The president of the Piraeus Bank Association, Michael Sallas, estimates that individuals should not be part of the PSI plan.

Speaking at the meeting of the association, where it was decided to increase the bonds by 400,000,000 euros through issuing rarefied bonds to support the public sector, he stressed that such a case, in which individuals would participate in the PSI programme, would be a negative one.

At the moment, the amount of Greek bonds owned by certain persons is 2.5-3 billion euros. At the same time, the latest information mentions  that there is the possibility that a haircut of up to 50% of bonds in individuals hands, on the initial value of 100,000 euros, might take place.

Moreover, Sallas said that by haircutting individuals’ bonds, smaller investors are also “punished” simply because they invested their money somewhere they thought was safe, and that this could cause problems in the future.

However, Sallas’ final comment was that most probably, individuals will not be affected.