Recent Banking Law Developments - Shares

By virtue of a bill introduced in Parliament for endorsement a new system of registration of shares is established. The major changes introduced by the bill are as follows:

- existing shares are replaced by registration in the electronic or other records of the Depository Company (DC). Such shares are registered in the records of the DC without a serial number and in case of cancellation of a corporation from the register of the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) the claim of the shareholder for the issuance of share title revives.

- the procedure for the conversion of existing shares embodied in 'material' titles into 'immaterial' ones and the pertinent details are laid down in the bill.

- an eighteen month time limit commencing from the entry into force of the new provisions is provided for the completion of the conversion procedure for shares listed on the ASE; on the other hand, a one year limit is set out for company shares which will be listed on the ASE up to the entry into