Greece calls emergency financial council meeting

(ATHENS) - The Greek government said Sunday it had called an emergency gathering of its systemic stability council, as speculation mounted of capital controls being imposed and increasing signs of a bank run.

"At 1600 local time (1300 GMT) the Council of Systemic Stability will convene at the Ministry of Finance," the Greek finance ministry said in a brief statement without giving any further details.

The council includes Greece's finance minister, the deputy finance minister, the governor of the Bank of Greece and the head of the country's financial markets regulator.

The European Central Bank was holding talks in Frankfurt on whether to keep or cut its Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) cash lifeline to Athens, as France warned of a "real risk" Greece will leave the euro.

According to an anonymous banking source in Greece, only 40 percent of the nation's cash machines currently have money in them -- purely because they cannot be restocked with banknotes quickly enough.

"From the moment the referendum was called until Saturday night, 1.3 billion euros ($1.45 billion) were withdrawn from the banks," the head of the bank workers' union Stavros Koukos told AFP.

"In case ELA is cut off, we will ask ... the government and the president to find ways to protect the bank workers and the clients."

Time was of the essence after scenes of anxious Greek citizens queueing at cash machines -- fearing that capital controls may be introduced -- and the horror scenario of a Greek exit from the euro is expected to unsettle global financial markets on Monday.