Greece rescues bank under embezzlement probe

Greece's central bank on Monday said it had used a rescue fund to effectively nationalise Proton Bank three months after the small lender -- which is under an embezzlement probe -- had received state backing. The Bank of Greece said a "new Proton bank" had been established with the central bank's financial stability fund as its sole shareholder. In the operation, a "good bank" was established to which all deposits as well as the "sound assets" of the former bank were transferred, the Bank of Greece said. Proton Bank had already received state support in July -- one day ahead of results of an EU-wide bank stress test -- with the finance ministry saying the move was dictated by state interests owing to fears of negative effects on the Greek banking system. At the time, a special prosecutor began investigating a 51-million-euro ($69-million) withdrawal at Proton Bank which Bank of Greece sources had described as "unusual." Proton Bank has a network of 30 branches in Greece and 3.8 billion euros in assets in March.