Piraeus Bank

Piraeus Bank SA (Greek: Τράπεζα Πειραιώς ΑΕ),is a Greek multinational financial services company with its headquarters in Athens, Greece. Founded in 1916, Piraeus Bank operated as a private credit institution for many decades, while for the period 1975–1991 it went through state ownership and management before it was privatized in December 1991. Since then, it has rapidly grown in size and activities. It operates in Greece, Frankfurt and London through a network of 778 branches. Its banking subsidiaries have around 293 branches and operate in 6 countries, namely Albania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine. Geniki Bank was also a subsidiary of Piraeus Bank, operating in Greece but has since November 2014 been integrated within Piraeus Bank. As of September 2015, it is the leading bank in Greece, by assets and liabilities with a 30% market share in net loans (51.9 Billion Euro) and 29% in deposits (38.1 Billion Euro). Piraeus Bank's stocks are listed on the Athens Stock Exchange (ATHEX) since January 1918. Its market capitalization on 8 January 2016 is 2.21 Billion Euro making it the third largest by that measure.

In 2014 following the acquisitions of the "good" ATEbank and of Geniki Bank, the banking operations in Greece of Bank of Cyprus, Cyprus Popular Bank and Hellenic Bank and the acquisition of Millennium Bank (Greece), the combined total assets of the Group amounted to €85.9 bn, gross loans €68.8 bn, of which 57% are non-performing, coverage ratio 50% (Gross loans: Greece €63.3 bn and €5.5 bn abroad) and customer deposits €38.1 bn (Greece:€34.5 bn and €3.5bn abroad) as well as Central Bank funding of €35.8bn including ELA of €21.2bn (data 30/09/15). The Group employs 19,770 people, while the entire branch network numbers 1,071 units, with a presence in 9 countries including Greece. Piraeus Bank is in 2015 the leading Bank in Greece, in terms of assets and liabilities, with 30% market share in terms of loans and 29% in terms of deposits. In terms of total assets, it is the second largest bank after the National Bank of Greece and in term of market capitalisation it is the third largest after Alpha Bank and National Bank of Greece.

Along with its organic growth during the decades of 1990 and 2000, Piraeus Bank made a series of strategic moves aiming to establish a strong presence in the domestic market. Thus, in 1998, the Bank absorbed the activities of Chase Manhattan in Greece, took over controlling interest in Macedonia-Thrace Bank and acquired the specialised bank Credit Lyonnais Hellas. At the beginning of 1999, the Bank acquired Xiosbank and absorbed the activities of National Westminster Bank Plc in Greece. In June 2000, Piraeus Bank absorbed its two commercial banks in Greece (Macedonia-Thrace Bank and Xiosbank). In 2002, Piraeus Bank acquired the Hellenic Industrial Development Bank (ETBAbank) which was absorbed in December 2003. Petroventure Holdings Limited controls a (9,4)% of Piraeus Bank which belongs to the Vardinogiannis group of companies.PPF Group controls also a (9,4)%,and Aggelopoulos family (4,1)%.The remaining percentage is listed on the stock market.

Activities

Piraeus Bank is a universal bank providing various banking services.

Historically a bank supportive of SMEs it now also possesses particular know-how in the areas of agricultural banking, consumer and mortgage credit, green banking, capital markets, investment banking, leasing and electronic banking.

Piraeus Bank Group

Piraeus Bank and its subsidiaries form the Piraeus Bank Group.

History

The historic building in Athens

Building in Odessa, Ukraine

A group of shipowners in Piraeus founded Banque du Pirée (Piraeus Bank; BP) in 1916 to finance trade. The Greek government bought the bank in 1975 and transformed it into a universal bank. The new headquarters designed by Sir Basil Spence were built on Stadiou Street in Athens. In December 1991 the government privatised the bank, which has grown in size and scope since then.

Expansion

In 1995 the Group established Piraeus Bank Romania with 160 branches and one year later Tirana Bank, the first privately owned banking institution in Albania with 56 branches. In 1999 with its acquisition of Xiosbank, PB took over Xios's branch in Sofia, Bulgaria; it has now some 83 branches in the country. PB also acquired the small New York-based Marathon National Bank and Interbank N.Y; it merged Interbank into Marathon Bank.

In 1998 the bank absorbed the Greek branch networks of Chase Manhattan Bank, Crédit Lyonnais, and acquired a controlling interest in Macedonia-Thrace Bank. A year later it added in the activities of National Westminster Bank and acquired Xiosbank (Bank of Chios) which it totally absorbed along with Macedonia-Thrace Bank. In 2002 Piraeus Bank signed a strategic alliance with ING Group (bancassurance). In 2005 it acquired the Bulgarian Eurobank, Atlas Bank in Serbia, Egyptian Commercial Bank in Egypt. In 2007 it expanded in Ukraine by acquiring the International Commerce Bank (renamed as Piraeus Bank ICB) and established Piraeus Bank Cyprus with the acquisition of Arab Bank Cyprus.

In 2002 the bank absorbed 58% of ETBA Bank (Hellenic Industrial Development Bank). PB also started a strategic alliance with ING Group, which took a 5% stake in the Piraeus Bank. In 2006 the PB sold back to ING its stake in a jointly owned mutual funds company. Cooperation continues via the bank-assurance company ING-PIRAEUS.

In 2005 Piraeus Bank acquired the Belgrade-based Atlas banka in Serbia (today Piraeus Bank Beograd with 42 branches), and the Egyptian Commercial Bank (today Piraeus Bank Egypt with 43).

In 2007 PB purchased the Cyprus arm of Arab Bank and renamed it Piraeus Bank (Cyprus). On 13 September 2007 Piraeus Bank completed its acquisition of 99.6% of the share capital of International Commercial Bank in Ukraine, today named Piraeus ICB.

In June 2012 PB signed an agreement with Investors Bancorp Inc, to transfer PB's shareholding in Marathon Banking Corporation in New York City, to Investors Bancorp. PB used the money it received for Marathon to finance the take over of the Greek banks Geniki Bank and healthy parts of ATEbank.

In 2012 Piraeus Bank acquired the so-called 'good' Agricultural Bank (selected assets and liabilities) gaining a leading position in the Greek banking sector. Three months later it acquired Societe Generale's Geniki Bank.

On 26 March 2013 it took over the Greek branches of Bank of Cyprus, Hellenic Bank and CPB Bank. Later in June 2013 it took over Millennium Bank (Greece).

At the end of December 2014 Piraeus Bank Group had an international presence consisting of 370 branches focusing in Southeastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean.

Faced with a probe by the European Commission over government bailouts following the Greek government-debt crisis, and their impact on competition in the banking sector in Greece, in July 2014 it was found the bank had not been given a competitive advantage, and restructuring plans for the bank were approved.

In April 2015 it also absorbed the 'good' parts of small Greek Cooperative bank Panellinia. In May 2015 it sold its Egyptian Subsidiary to Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait.

Other activities

Piraeus Bank reached an agreement in 2007 to acquire 100% of Avis Rent-A-Car Hellas for €25.5 mln. Brokers said that this purchase will create synergies for the group leasing subsidiary, Piraeus Leasing, by adding a car fleet valued at €200 mln to its long-term leasing business.

The Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation carries out culture-related activities of the bank, which are part of the corporate social responsibility. The historical archive is curated by the foundation. In 2012 the foundation won the European Europa-Nostra-Award.

Awards

• 2004 "Straight Through Processing Excellence Award"
• 2004 The European banking technology award
• 2005-2006 Successive awards from Deutsche Bank: "2004 Euro STP Excellence Award" in 2005 & "2005 EUR Straight-Through Processing (STP) Excellence Award" in 2006.
• "Best performance in Custody for the domestic market for the years 2005-6 (Most Improved Custodian in Greece 2005-6)" distinction from the international magazine "Money Markets".
• 2007 European prize "Recognized for Excellence in Europe - 4 stars" by the international non-profit organization EFQM.
• 2007 JP Morgan Elite Quality Recognition Award
• 2008 "Windows in Financial Services Developer Award 2008" during the "6th Annual Microsoft Financial Services Conference" in New York.
• 2008, 2009 gold award by the international Corporate Responsibility Index (CRI)
• 2012 Double STP Excellence Award

See also

• List of banks in Greece
• List of companies of Greece
• Banking in Greece
• eabh (The European Association for Banking and Financial History e.V.)

External links

• Piraeus Bank Athens Exchange quote on BloombergBusiness
  • Piraeus Bank OTC quote (Grey Market) on BloombergBusiness