ECB acts with Greek bond exchange: report

(BERLIN) - Eurozone central banks have begun exchanging the Greek bonds they hold for other Greek bonds in a bid to generate profits that could indirectly help Greece, according to a German newspaper Thursday.

The European Central Bank declined to comment on the report by Die Welt which released early a copy of its story to appear in Friday's edition of the daily newspaper.

Quoting well-informed sources, Die Welt said that the ECB and eurozone central banks were exchanging Greek bonds at their face value of about 50 billion euros ($65 billion) which they had bought on the market since early 2010 for a lower price.

The profit made through the technical operation would then be distributed by the ECB to the 17 member states of the eurozone to enable the money to eventually benefit debt-laden Greece, it said.

The exchange programme must be completed by Monday, the newspaper reported.

It represents a way for the ECB which is forbidden by European treaties from directly financing eurozone countries to take part in helping rescue Greece struggling to stave off bankruptcy under a 350-billion ($457 billion) euro debt mountain.

ECB chief Mario Draghi last week insisted the ECB would not partially write off its portfolio of Greek government bonds under a debt accord as that would violate ECB statutes but he said the bank might possibly distribute part of its profits to member countries.