GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Panagiotis (Notis) Sardelas, Matina Kagkelari and Anna Zlatoudi, Sardelas Petsa Law Firm
2.2 Sponsors The term “sponsor” is not contained in the Secu - ritisation Law. According to the CRR and the EU Securitisa - tion Regulation, a sponsor is a credit institution (whether located within the EU or not) or an investment firm as defined under MiFID II, other than the originator, that establishes and man - ages a securitisation that purchases exposures from third-party entities, or that establishes a securitisation that purchases exposures from third-party entities and delegates the day-to- day active portfolio management involved in that securitisation to an entity authorised to per - form such activity in accordance with Directive 2009/65/EC (the “UCITS Directive”), Directive 2011/61/EU (“AIFMD”) or MiFID II. 2.3 Originators/Sellers According to the Securitisation Law, in a secu - ritisation of business claims, the originator/seller of the receivables can be any merchant resid - ing or being permanently established in Greece, whereas in real estate securitisations the seller can only be the Greek State or another public sector entity, a credit institution, an insurance company or a société anonyme 100% owned by the above entities. The HAPS Law applies only to securitisations originated by credit institutions. The EU Securitisation Regulation imposes a “direct” obligation on the originator to ensure that it retains a 5% material net economic inter - est on the transferred assets (risk retention – see 4.3 Credit Risk Retention ). 2.4 Underwriters and Placement Agents Underwriters – usually also referred to as man - agers and/or arrangers – are typically investment
banks, which act as an intermediary between the issuer and investors in the offering of the notes. In Greek securitisations, the arrangers provide advice on the structure of the transaction and/ or investor demand, and facilitate the marketing and sale of the notes. 2.5 Servicers The servicer is the entity undertaking the servic - ing, the collection and, generally, the manage - ment of the transferred receivables. Under the Securitisation Law, the servicing of the securi - tised portfolio can either remain with the origi - nator or it can be assigned to a credit or finan - cial institution, which legally provides services according to its scope within the EEA, or to any third party, provided that it is either a guarantor to the transferred receivables or is entrusted with the management or collection of the receivables prior to their transfer. It is noted that, under the Securitisation Law, if the SPE does not have an establishment in Greece and the transferred receivables are claims against consumers payable in Greece, the servicer must have an establishment in Greece. The servicer is appointed by the SPE by a writ - ten agreement. The servicing agreement is reg - istered in the public books of the pledge regis - try of the registered seat of the originator. If the servicer is replaced, a new servicing agreement will be entered into and will be registered in the same manner as the initial servicing agreement. Under Greek Law 5072/2023, which repealed the relevant provisions of Greek Law 4354/2015, the credit servicer acting on behalf of a credit pur - chaser or a credit institution or a financial institu - tion having its registered seat or established in EU, in respect of a creditor’s rights, under credit
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