Piraeus Bank

Piraeus Bank A.E.
Τράπεζα Πειραιώς Α.Ε.

File:Piraeus Bank New Logo.gif
Company type	Anonymi Etairia
Traded as	Athex: TPEIR
Industry	Financial services
Founded	1916 (1916)
Fate	Active
Headquarters	Athens , Greece
Number of locations	564 branches (564 in Greece (Q3 2018)
Area served	Greece Frankfurt London Albania Ukraine
Key people	Georgios Handjinicolaou (Chairman) Christos Megalou (CEO)
Services	Retail banking Commercial Banking Private banking Investment banking Asset management
Revenue	€434 million (Q1 2018)
Operating income	€242 million (Q1 2018)
Net income	€117 million (Q1 2018)
Total assets	€56.9 billion (Q3 2018)
Total equity	€9.799 billion (Q1 2018) Common equity Tier 1 capital = 14.3% (Fully Loaded Basel III)
Owner	Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (26%)
Number of employees	11.800 (Q3 2018)
Subsidiaries	JSC Piraeus Bank ICB
Website	piraeusbank.gr

Piraeus Bank A.E. (Greek: Τράπεζα Πειραιώς ΑΕ), is a Greek multinational financial services company with its headquarters in Athens, Greece. Piraeus Bank's stocks are listed on the Athens Stock Exchange (ATHEX) since January 1918..

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 amount to €67.4 bn, gross loans €60.3 bn, of which 56% are non-performing exposures, coverage ratio 52% (Gross loans: Greece €57.9 bn and €2.4 bn abroad) and customer deposits €42.7 bn (Greece:€40.9 bn and €1.8bn abroad) as well as Central Bank funding of €10bn including ELA of €6bn (data 31/12/17).

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.

Shareholder structure of Piraeus Bank presents great diversity (total number of common shareholders c.30k). As of March 2018, the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund holds 26% of outstanding common shares, while the remaining 74% is held by the private sector (legal entities and individuals).

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 bank started trading on the Athens Exchange in 1918. 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 and Consolidation

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. In December 2012 Piraeus Bank 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 subsidiary in Egypt to Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait.

In March 2017, an investment group led by Lebanese businessman Maurice Sehnaoui officiated their purchase of Piraeus Bank Cyprus by rebranding the company and renaming it AstroBank.

In September 2017, Piraeus Bank announces that it has entered into an agreement to sell its Serbian banking and leasing operations of Piraeus Bank Beograd, to Direktna Banka A.D.

In December 2017, Piraeus Bank announces that it has entered into an agreement with J.C. Flowers & Co. for the sale of its entire shareholding stake in Piraeus Bank Romania.

In April 2018, the sale of Piraeus Bank Beograd to Direktna Banka A.D. was completed, following the receipt of the necessary regulatory approvals by the HFSF, the National Bank of Serbia and the Serbian Competition Authority.

In June 2018, Piraeus Bank completed the sale of Piraeus Bank Romania to J.C. Flowers & Co. following the receipt of the necessary regulatory approvals by the National Bank of Romania.

See also

• List of banks in Greece
• List of companies of Greece
• Banking in Greece

External links

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