Greek banks will beat stress tests

ATHENS: Greece's finance minister has expressed confidence that Greek banks will not fare badly in stress tests being carried out on European lenders.

Finance Minster George Papaconstantinou made the prediction on Monday. Six Greek banks are among the 91 banks undergoing stress tests by the European Union. The results are due to be announced after stock markets closed on Friday.

The government is currently considering a 701 million euro($911 million) offer by private Piraeus Bank to buy stakes in state-controlled ATEBank and Hellenic Postbank.

All three Greek banks are on the stress test list, long with the National Bank of Greece, EFG Eurobank Ergasias and Alpha Bank.