TEXT-S&P affirms NBG, Eurobank, Alpha, Piraeus at 'CCC/C'

Overview
-- On Dec. 18, 2012, we raised our long- and short-term sovereign credit
ratings on Greece to 'B-/B' from 'SD' (selective default).
-- Although we believe that sovereign creditworthiness benefits from the
strong determination of the eurozone to restore Greek economic stability and
preserve its eurozone membership, we believe that the four Greek banks we rate
are likely to continue facing significant risks to their weak financial
profiles.
-- We are therefore affirming our 'CCC' long-term and 'C' short-term
ratings on National Bank of Greece, Eurobank Ergasius, Alpha Bank, and Piraeus
Bank.
-- The negative outlook reflects our view that we might lower the ratings
on any of the four rated Greek banks because we believe there is still a
one-in-three probability that they could default on their obligations.

Rating Action
On Dec. 20, 2012, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services affirmed its 'CCC/C'
long- and short-term counterparty credit ratings on four Greek banks: National
Bank of Greece S.A. (NBG), Eurobank Ergasias S.A (Eurobank),
Alpha Bank A.E., and Piraeus Bank S.A. The outlook on the
long-term ratings on all four banks is negative.

At the same time, we affirmed our 'CC' issue rating on all four banks' hybrid
securities.

Rationale
The affirmation follows our upgrade of the Hellenic Republic (Greece) to
'B-/B' from 'SD' on Dec. 18, 2012. The sovereign action reflectd the benefits
from the completion on Dec. 17, 2012, of Greece's distressed debt buyback in
tandem with approval by the finance ministers of EU member states belonging to
the eurozone of a loan disbursement to Greece under the second economic
adjustment program.

We view the eurozone member states' decision to provide material cash flow
relief to Greece as indicative of their determination to restore stability to
Greek finances, and to preserve Greece's eurozone membership. Nevertheless, we
think that the deteriorated financial profiles of the Greek banks we rate
remain vulnerable to what we view as persistently high risk in their domestic
economy. While capital and liquidity support from the authorities should allow
the banks to continue complying with regulatory requirements, we believe that
this support is unlikely to be sufficient to completely neutralize the impact
of the weak operating and economic environment on our view of the banks'
creditworthiness.

We are maintaining our assessment of all four banks' stand-alone credit
profile (SACP) at 'cc'. The long-term rating on NBG, Eurobank, Alpha Bank, and
Piraeus is two notches higher than the SACP, reflecting the uplift for
extraordinary short-term capital and liquidity support provided by the Greek
government and EU authorities.
In our view, the upcoming capital support that will be provided by the
Hellenic Financial Stability Fund should allow the four banks to absorb the
impact of any potential losses which might derive from their participation in
the Greek government's debt exchange offer, as well as the impact of high
credit provisions on their domestic portfolios while complying with regulatory
capital requirements.

Still, we think that the magnitude of this support is unlikely to be
sufficient to completely offset the impact of the sharply deteriorated
economic environment on our view of the banks' solvency. We also take the view
that the banks' domestic asset quality is likely to keep deteriorating at a
very high pace in the coming quarters, as the domestic economy remains weak
and liquidity in Greece is still scarce, thus affecting private borrowers'
creditworthiness.

Finally, we also believe that the banks have accumulated large imbalances on
their funding profile since the beginning of the downturn and that the
unwinding of those imbalances is going to be quite difficult in the current
environment. We also think that banks remain highly vulnerable to any
potential further pressure on retail deposits, as Greek retail funding has
proved to be quite volatile over the past few years, despite some
stabilization in recent months. In our view, in the medium to long term, the
banksare likely to maintain high reliance on European liquidity support
mechanisms, including the Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) program set up
at the Bank of Greece, to meet their refinancing requirements.

Outlook
Our negative outlook on NBG, Eurobank, Alpha Bank, and Piraeus is based on the
possibility that we might lower the ratings on the banks if we believed they
would default on their obligations, as defined by our criteria.

We might lower the ratings on the four banks if their access to the EU's
extraordinary liquidity support mechanisms, including the ELA discount
facility at the European Central Bank, became impaired for any reason. This
support currently underpins the banks' capacity to meet their financing
requirements. In this context, despite a mild recovery in recent months, we
believe the pressure on the banks' retail funding base may lead to further
deposit outflows, given the ongoing recession. This could, in our opinion,
increase the banks' need for additional extraordinary liquidity support from
the EU authorities.

We might also lower the ratings on the banks if we believed they were likely
to default as a result of any developments associated with a substantial
impairment of their solvency. This could happen if, for any reason, the banks
were unable to access external capital support, or if we considered such
support insufficient to allow the banks to continue meeting regulatory capital
requirements, mainly as a result of potential recognition of continued large
impairments on loans.

A revision of the outlook to stable could be possible if economic conditions
in Greece improved and pressure on the banks' financials eased, and once
external support materialized.

Ratings Score Snapshot
National Bank of Greece S.A.
Eurobank Ergasias S.A
Alpha Bank A.E.
Piraeus Bank S.A.
Issuer Credit Rating CCC/Negative/C

SACP cc
Anchor b+
Business Position Adequate (0)
Capital and Earnings Very weak (-2)
Risk Position Weak (-2)
Funding and Average (-5) and
Liquidity Very weak

Support 0
GRE Support 0
Group Support 0
Sovereign Support 0
Short-Term Extraordinary Support +2

Additional Factors 0

Related Criteria And Research
-- Criteria For Assigning 'CCC+', 'CCC', 'CCC-' And 'CC' Ratings, Oct. 1,
2012
-- Banks: Rating Methodology And Assumptions, Nov. 9, 2011
-- Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment Methodology And Assumptions,
Nov. 9, 2011
-- Group Rating Methodology And Assumptions, Nov. 9, 2011
-- Bank Hybrid Capital Methodology And Assumptions, Nov. 1, 2011

Ratings List
Ratings Affirmed

National Bank of Greece S.A.
Eurobank Ergasias S.A
Alpha Bank A.E.
Piraeus Bank S.A.
Counterparty Credit Rating CCC/Negative/C

Complete ratings information is available to subscribers of RatingsDirect on
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