ECB's Noyer calls for Greek banks capital injection before autumn tests

PARIS (Reuters) - European Central Bank governing council member Christian Noyer wants to see an urgent initial injection of capital for Greek banks before the autumn tests that the ECB plans on what their exact needs are, he said in an interview with Le Monde.

Such a move "would be preferable to stabilise the sector", he said in the interview, which was published on the newspaper's web site.

Noyer also said he was against the idea of asking the Greek banks' major clients to contribute to the recapitalisation - as was the case with the Cyprus banks bailout in 2013 - since most of those clients in the Greek case were small and medium-sized enterprises.

"My position is widely held on the council of governors," he said, adding that clarification on that subject "would favour the return of confidence and bring back a large part of the 90 billion euros (64 billion pounds) that have left Greece since 2010".