MADRID (Standard&Poor's) Feb. 22, 2011--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its ratings on Greece-based National Bank of Greece S.A. (NBG, BB+/Watch Neg/B) and Alpha Bank A.E. (Alpha, BB/Watch Neg/B) are not affected following NBG's recent announcement that it has proposed a merger of the two entities to Alpha. We understand that NBG has so far only presented a proposal to Alpha's board of directors and that this proposal alone doesn't constitute a firm takeover bid. Alpha's board has indicated its rejection of the proposal, which had been approved by the strategy committee of NBG's board, its executive board members, and representatives of the Greek state in a joint session. If the boards of the two banks
