National Bank of Greece gets 2.71 billion euro state aid by the European Commission

The commission concluded that measures the National Bank of Greece has already implemented will allow it to secure a grant of credit to the Greek economy, according to the European Union's rules on state aid.

"With the completion of the recapitalization of the four systemic banks of Greece and the very important participation of the private sector, one more element of uncertainty was eliminated," said European Commissioner Pierre Moscovici.

"This development is a positive step to ensure the sustainable restoration of confidence in Greece."

A European Central Bank health check in October found National Bank of Greece, the country's largest lender by assets, would have a capital shortfall of 4.6 billion euros ($4.86 billion) under the most adverse scenario.

(Reporting by Lefteris Karagiannopoulos; Editing by Catherine Evans)