FRANKFURT, July 20: The European Central Bank said on Friday it will stop accepting Greek sovereign bonds as collateral but will review the situation once a team of international auditors has completed its visit to Athens.

In the interim, Greek banks could continue to get funding from the Greek central bank, the ECB said in a statement.

The decision to suspend Greek sovereign bonds and other assets backed by the Greek government came with the expiry next week of a bond swap launched earlier this year, the ECB explained.

Greek sovereign bonds “will become for the time being ineligible for use as collateral in eurosystem monetary policy operations,” the ECB said.

However, the ECB said its policy-setting governing council would re-assess the eligibility of the bonds once the so-called 'troika' of experts from the ECB, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund had completed their review of the progress made by Greece in meeting the conditions of its bailout programme.

The visit is scheduled for next week but Greek media reports suggest the troika's report will not be ready until the end of August.

The ECB stopped accepting Greek sovereign bonds as collateral earlier this year following the announcement by rating agency Standard & Poor's that Greece was in “selective default.”—AFP