Greek central bank chief says wants second term

Central bank chief George Provopoulos takes part in the annual shareholders meeting of Bank of Greece in Athens February 25, 2013. REUTERS/John Kolesidis

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's central bank chief George Provopoulos said on Friday he would accept a second term at the helm of the Bank of Greece if the government offered it to him when his current one expires in June. Asked in an interview on private television station Skai if he wanted to keep his post, Provopoulos said: "Yes," adding that this was a decision for the government of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to make. Provopoulos, who oversaw the recapitalization of Greece's banking system under the terms of the country's international bailout, also said he expected its third-biggest lender Eurobank , to raise from private investors all the funds it needs to plug a capital gap. "I am optimistic that it (Eurobank) will raise all the money it needs from capital markets," Provopoulos said. Eurobank is planning a capital increase of up to 3 billion euros ($4.2 billion). If it fails to do that, it will have to tap Greece's bank bailout fund HFSF which is funded by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. ($1 = 0.7201 Euros) (Reporting by Harry Papachristou and Lefteris Papadimas, editing by Renee Maltezou)