Austrian finmin mulls voluntary bank aid for Greece

VIENNA (Reuters) - Austria will discuss with the country's banks on Monday whether they can help Greece or Greek banks on a voluntary basis, finance minister Josef Proell was quoted as saying by national news agency APA on Sunday.

"We will discuss together what could be the best contribution and indirect support," Proell said after a meeting of European finance ministers triggered a record 110 billion euro ($146.5 billion) bailout for Greece.

Proell did not elaborate on which form this aid could take, saying only that it did not necessarily mean new loans for Greece or buying Greek government bonds.

He wanted to discuss with the Austrian banks in a meeting he said he would call for Monday what their existing credit lines for Greek borrowers are and how interconnected Austrian and Greek banks are.

The Greek government plans to extend a package to provide liquidity to the Greek banking sector and will create a fund to guarantee banks' solvency as part of a the European Union and IMF aid package for Greece.

Germany's private sector is already clubbing together to support the rescue package for Greece, in a move led by Deutsche Bank Chief Executive Josef Ackermann.

Austrian banks including Erste Group Bank and RZB have lent 4.6 billion euros to Greek borrowers, according to statistics from the Bank for International Settlements.

They compete with Greek banks in south-eastern European countries including Romania and Bulgaria.

(Reporting by Boris Groendahl, editing by Martin Golan)