Greece 'meets bailout conditions' after debt swap

The Greek deal with banks and other lenders is the largest restructuring of government debt in history.

Some lenders who lost money as a result of the debt swap will be compensated, BBC News reports.

That is after the International Swaps and Derivatives Association classified the deal as a "credit event", triggering insurance payments.

Under the debt swap, banks and other financial institutions have agreed to exchange their existing Greek government debt for new bonds, which are worth much less and pay a lower rate of interest.

Some investors bought a type of insurance against that happening. Those payouts could be worth in total up to $3.2bn, only a small fraction of the 105bn euros ($138bn, £88bn) wiped-off Greece's debt burden.

The credit ratings agency, Moody's declared Greece in default on its debt on Friday.

It said the terms of the debt swap met its definition of a default.

The company says it will assess the affect of the latest bailout before it assigns Greece a new rating.

'Problem solved'

Eurozone finance ministers said the conditions were now in place for the country to receive its new 130bn-euro (£110bn; $173bn) bailout.

"Today the problem is solved," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said.

Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos hailed the swap as an "exceptional success".

Details also at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17308804