On February 17 th 2012, all bonds held by the ECB and other Eurosystem central banks were exchanged into new bonds which were exactly the same as the old ones (same nominal amount, coupon payments and repayment dates) but different serial numbers (ISINs // eine wissenschaftliche Arbeit die man in Prozessen als Zeugnis benennen kann.....

2.2. The Greek Sovereign Debt Restructuring of 2012
Between February and April of 2012, Greece implemented the largest sovereign bond
exchange in history. The Greek PSI deal restructured all outstanding Greek government bonds
(GGBs) owed to private creditors, namely 81 Hellenic Republic titles with an eligible volume
of €195.8 bn.
11
 A detailed description of the exchange is given by Zettelmeyer et al. (2012).
For this analysis, the essential feature of the Greek exchange is that the ECB did not
participate in it. Technically, the exemption took the form of a “silent” debt swap: On 
February 17
th
 2012, all bonds held by the ECB and other Eurosystem central banks were 
exchanged into new bonds which were exactly the same as the old ones (same nominal 
amount, coupon payments and repayment dates) but different serial numbers (ISINs).
12
 The
instruments involved in this “silent” swap were not eligible in the Greek debt restructuring
proposal of 24 February 2012, neither the old bonds with the original ISINs nor the new
bonds with the new identifiers. The old bonds were exempt because they had been transferred
to Greece in the swap and were subsequently cancelled (see the offering memorandum, p. 15).
The new, central bank owned ones were exempt because the debt restructuring offer only
targeted bonds issued “prior to 31 December 2011”, thus excluding those issued in the
February 17 swap. With this simple operation the ECB shielded its holdings from taking a
haircut and now holds new ISIN bonds that are no longer observable in the stock of tradable
Greek debt. For this reasons we call them the “missing bonds”.


Table A1: List of all Greek Sovereign Bonds with Holdings by the ECB/Eurosystem
 
ISIN Maturity Governing
Law
Currency Exchange Total Volume
Outstanding
(€ mn, as of
Febr. 2012)
Private Sector
Holdings      
(€ mn, eligible
for exchange)
Central Bank
Holdings
("Missing
bonds", € mn)
Share of
Centr. Bank 
Holdings    
(in %)
GR0110021236 20.03.2012 Greek law EUR Athens 14435.0 9765.6 4669.4 32.3%
XS0147393861 15.05.2012 English law EUR Luxembourg 450.0 450.0 0.0 0.0%
GR0124018525 18.05.2012 Greek law EUR Athens 8000.0 4665.7 3334.3 41.7%
GR0124020547 20.06.2012 Greek law EUR Athens 413.7 413.7 0.0 0.0%
GR0106003792 30.06.2012 Greek law EUR Athens 140.3 140.3 0.0 0.0%
GR0114020457 20.08.2012 Greek law EUR Athens 7720.0 4586.0 3133.9 40.6%
GR0326042257 22.12.2012 Greek law EUR Not Listed 2026.3 2026.3 0.0 0.0%
GR0508001121 31.12.2012 Greek law EUR Athens 22.9 22.9 0.0 0.0%
GR0512001356 20.02.2013 Greek law EUR Athens 5820.0 5376.7 443.3 7.6%
GR0110022242 31.03.2013 Greek law EUR Athens 36.4 36.4 0.0 0.0%
GR0124021552 20.05.2013 Greek law EUR Athens 9079.5 4490.6 4588.9 50.5%
GR0128001584 20.05.2013 Greek law EUR Athens 2497.6 1492.7 1004.9 40.2%
XS0372384064 25.06.2013 English law USD Frankfurt 1133.8 1083.9 49.9 4.4%
GR0124022568 03.07.2013 Greek law EUR n.a. 410.3 326.0 84.3 20.5%
CH0021839524 05.07.2013 Swiss law CHF SIX 538.4 538.4 0.0 0.0%
GR0110023257 31.07.2013 Greek law EUR Athens 64.3 64.3 0.0 0.0%
GR0114021463 20.08.2013 Greek law EUR Athens 5850.2 3680.2 2170.0 37.1%
GR0124023574 30.09.2013 Greek law EUR Athens 149.4 149.4 0.0 0.0%
GR0326043263 22.12.2013 Greek law EUR Not Listed 1854.7 1853.8 1.0 0.1%
GR0128002590 11.01.2014 Greek law EUR Athens 4552.1 2699.0 1853.2 40.7%
GR0124024580 20.05.2014 Greek law EUR Athens 8523.4 4368.7 4154.8 48.7%
XS0097596463 21.05.2014 English law EUR Not Listed 70.0 69.0 1.0 1.4%
GR0124025595 01.07.2014 Greek law EUR Athens 424.0 394.0 30.0 7.1%
GR0112003653 25.07.2014 Greek law EUR Athens 155.4 155.4 0.0 0.0%
GR0114022479 20.08.2014 Greek law EUR Athens 12500.0 8541.2 3958.8 31.7%
GR0112004669 30.09.2014 Greek law EUR Athens 85.7 85.7 0.0 0.0%
GR0514020172 04.02.2015 Greek law EUR Athens 2020.0 2020.0 0.0 0.0%
JP530000CR76 14.07.2015 Japanese law JPY Not Listed 188.3 188.3 0.0 0.0%
GR0124026601 20.07.2015 Greek law EUR Athens 9584.9 6093.5 3491.4 36.4%
GR0114023485 20.08.2015 Greek law EUR Athens 8000.0 4811.7 3188.3 39.9%
GR0114024491 30.09.2015 Greek law EUR Athens 171.4 171.4 0.0 0.0%
GR0124027617 10.11.2015 Greek law EUR Athens 375.0 375.0 0.0 0.0%
JP530000BS19 01.02.2016 Japanese law JPY Not Listed 282.4 282.4 0.0 0.0%
XS0165956672 08.04.2016 English law EUR Not Listed 400.0 400.0 0.0 0.0%
XS0357333029 11.04.2016 English law EUR Not Listed 5600.0 5547.2