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Banks across Europe, including the European Central Bank, are preparing for the possibility of Greece leaving the euro zone. With Athens and Brussels still at odds, such an eventuality seems more realistic than ever. But how disruptive would a Grexit really be?
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The European Central Bank, whose new headquarters are seen here in Frankfurt, is preparing for the possibility of Greece leaving the euro zone. Officials are performing internal simulations to determine how the rest of the euro zone could be kept together if Greece goes. ECB officials believe the chances of a Greek exit have increased in recent days.

Foto: Boris Roessler/ dpa
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Despite their strenuous denials, ECB officials are urgning Athens to finally implement capital controls in order to put a stop to ongoing capital flight. Every day, Greeks are sending in excess of 1 billion euros abroad, the ECB believes.

Foto: ALKIS KONSTANTINIDIS/ REUTERS
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The climate between the EU and Greece is a poisonous one. For weeks, newly elected Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Finance Minister Giannis Varoufakis have presented their euro-zone partners with billions in demands without providing a single realistic proposal for how the plans should be paid for. Their party Syriza wants to increase public spending while the euro group wants to reduce it.

Foto: LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/ AFP
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On Thursday, the Greek government applied for an extension of its bailout program, but without fulfilling the considtions laid down by the euro group, as least according to the interpretation of German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble (center). Everyone involved insists they don't want Greece to leave the common currency. But it could ultimately become unavoidable if the political chasm betwen Athens and Brussles proves unbridgeable.

Foto: Geert Vanden Wijngaert/ AP/dpa
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Animosity in Greece toward German officials has been apparent in recent weeks. A cartoon that ran in the Greek leftist newspaper Avgi, or "The Dawn," last week featured a caricature of Schäuble with the captions, "We insist on soap from your fat" and "we are discussing fertilizer from your ashes." Schäuble is depicted wearing a Nazi uniform and the references are clearly to the Holocaust.

Foto: Foto: Tassos Anastasiou/I Avgi/dpa
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Shipping container cranes line the Pireaus cargo port on Feb. 11. Athanassios Kelemis, the chairman of the Greco-German Chamber of Commerce, warns that "2015 will be a lost year for the Greek economy" as a result of the new government's dispute over the terms of its loans.

Foto: Milos Bicanski/ Getty Images
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Officials across Europe are worried about Greece leaving the euro zone either deliberately, because it is seen as the lesser of two evils, or accidentally, because the situation turns into a stalemate.

Foto: Orestis Panagiotou/ dpa
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One possible flipside of leaving the euro is that it could boost exports for the country as well as tourism, but sources at the IMF in Washington say they believe the cost of exiting the euro would be greater for Greece than continuing with reform measures.

Foto: Yannis Kolesidis/ dpa