Greece's Alpha open to tie-up with a foreign bank

ATHENS (Reuters) - Alpha Bank (ACBr.AT), Greece's third-largest lender, would consider teaming up with a foreign bank if it is large and strong enough, its chairman told Sunday's Proto Thema newspaper.

"If it is big and solid, we would look into it," Alpha Bank's Chairman Yannis Costopoulos was quoted as saying when asked whether the bank would consider an alliance with a foreign lender.

Merger talks in Greece's banking sector, battered by the country's debt crisis, has sparked a rally in shares since July 15 when Piraeus Bank (BOPr.AT) offered 701 million euros in cash to buy government stakes in Hellenic Postbank and ATEbank.

Piraeus, Greece's fourth-largest lender, has offered to buy 77.3 percent in ATEbank (AGBr.AT) and 33 percent in Hellenic Postbank (TT) (GPSr.AT). The government has said it will seriously assess the bid.

Costopoulos told the paper he did not see changes in the country's banking landscape taking place immediately.

"The issue is not the restructuring of the financial system, at least not immediately. The big issue is liquidity which is not there right now," he said.

Greek banks have lost access to wholesale funding in the interbank market as a result of the debt crisis, relying on deposits and the European Central Bank (ECB) to meet their liquidity needs.

Asked whether he would consider reviving a merger with National Bank (NBGr.AT), a deal which was pursued years ago but failed to materialize, Costopoulos said: "Everything is game, why not?"

(Reporting by George Georgiopoulos, editing by Jonathan Thatcher)