SEC Grants Limited Regulation M Exemption to National Bank of Greece

Subject to certain conditions, the SEC Division of Trading and Markets granted the National Bank of Greece S.A. ("NBG") a limited exemption from Rule 102 ("Activities by Issuers and Selling Security Holders during a Distribution") of Regulation M under the Securities Exchange Act. The exemption involves the distribution of ordinary shares of the NBG in the form of a proposed private and offshore placement, as well as a public offering in Greece. As the SEC Division of Trading and Markets noted, the NBG stressed that this relief constitutes "an essential element of the recapitalization of NBG subject to the oversight of the Single Supervisory Mechanism, the supervisory arm of the European Central Bank."