ECB said it will keep accepting Greek debt: FT (by Barbara Kollmeyer)

MADRID (MarketWatch) -- The European Central Bank is prepared to accept Greek debt as collateral for all loans unless all major credit ratings agencies declare it in default, according to a report in the Financial Times, citing a senior finance official. Of the main agencies, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, on Monday said that a proposal announced last week by French banks to roll over Greek debt would likely put the country into "selective default" if implemented. The report quoted French and German officials as saying they were not overly worried by the S&P warning, saying a rollover was unlikely to result in a credit event. "The important thing is we avoid a credit event, with all the resulting negative impact on credit-default swaps which occupied us after the Lehman bankruptcy," a German official told the FT.