Greece's Alpha Bank rejects NBG merger plan -paper

LONDON, March 13 (Reuters) - Greece's Alpha Bank plans to remain independent, a senior executive was quoted as saying on Sunday, dampening hopes for a merger deal with rival National Bank of Greece.

'As far as we are concerned, this deal is dead,' chief operating officer Spyros Filateros told the Financial Times.

'It will be very difficult for us to entertain anything from NBG as a friendly approach.'

NBG, the country's biggest lender, surprised the market with a bid for Alpha in February, but the move was rejected by its smaller rival. Greece has called on banks to explore tie-ups to better cope with the country's debt crisis.

Filaretos said NBG's approach was hostile and its merger calculations lacked credibility.

'Right from the beginning, this was not a friendly approach,' Filaretos said.

'NBG put out the statement. People were left to believe this was a done deal. It was a clumsy way to put pressure on us.'

Earlier this month, a Greek prosecutor ordered a probe into whether merger talks between the banks were leaked for stock market speculation.

(Reporting by Karolina Tagaris; editing by Gunna Dickson) Keywords: ALPHABANK NBG/ ([e-mail]; [phone]) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.