Piraeus Bank

Piraeus Bank Group is a Greek bank founded in 1916 that went through a period of state ownership and management (1975–1991) before it was privatised in December 1991. Since then, it has continuously grown in size and activities. The Piraeus Bank group of companies engages in financial and banking activities not only in Greece, but also in Southeastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean, as well as the financial centres of London and New York. Piraeus Bank Group engages in retail banking, the financing of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), capital markets, investment banking, leasing, real estate and financing of the shipping sector.

Piraeus Bank Group has a constantly expanding network with more than 300 branches in Greece, 14 branches in New York, 1 in the UK, 180 branches in Romania, 72 in Bulgaria, 38 in Albania, 38 in Serbia and 40 in Egypt. Piraeus Bank Group acquired a Ukrainian bank, International Commercial Bank, in 2007. In addition, Piraeus Bank operates a representative office in Moscow.

Additionally, Piraeus Bank offers a line of online banking services under the brand "winbank".^[2]

History

• 1916: A group of shipowners founded Banque du Piree (Piraeus Bank; BP) to finance trade.
• 1975: BP came under government ownership.
• 1991: The government privatized BP and the bank changed its name to Piraeus Bank (PB).
• 1998: PB absorbed the activities of Chase Manhattan Bank (2 branches) in Greece, and Crédit Lyonnais Greece. It also acquired 37% of Macedonia-Thrace Bank from National Bank of Greece in a privatization.
• 1999: PB acquired 35% of Xios Bank. PB also absorbed the activities of National Westminster Bank in Greece.
• 2000: PB merged in Macedonia-Thrace Bank and Xios Bank.
• 2002: PB acquired 58% of ETBA Bank (Hellenic Industrial Development Bank) from the Greek government with a view to merging it. PB also entered into a strategic alliance with ING Group, which took a 5% stake in PB.
• 2003: PB absorbed ETBA.
• 2006: PB sold back to ING its stake in a jointly-owned mutual funds company. Cooperation continues via the bank-assurance company ING-PIRAEUS.
• 2007: Bank of Piraeus reached agreement with the Avis group to acquire 100 pct of Avis Rent-A-Car Hellas for 25.5 mln eur. Brokers said that this purchase will create synergies for the group leasing subsidiary, Piraeus Leasing, by adding a car fleet valued at 200 mln eur to its long-term leasing business.

International expansion

• 1995: PB established Piraeus Bank Romania.
• 1996: PB established Tirana Bank. This was the first privately owned banking institution in Albania and now has over 35 branches.
• 1999: with its acquisition of Xiosbank, PB took over Xios's branch in Sofia, Bulgaria, and PB now has some 15 branches in the country. PB also acquired Marathon National Bank of Astoria, New York, which has branches in Astoria and nearby towns. Astoria is a town with a large population of Greek descent. That same year, PB established a branch in London.
• 2000: PB acquires Pater Bank in Romania from Budapest Bank. Pater Bank targeted Hungarians living in Romania.
• 2003: PB acquired Interbank N.Y., which operated a network of 5 branches in New York City, and specifically in Brooklyn, Astoria, Queens, as well as in Park Avenue, downtown Manhattan. PB then merged Interbank with Marathon National.
• 2005: PB acquired Belgrade-based Atlas banka in Serbia and renamed it Piraeus Bank Beograd. PB acquired Eurobank in Bulgaria and subsequently merged it into Piraeus Bank Bulgaria. PB acquired Egyptian Commercial Bank in Egypt and renamed it Piraeus Bank Egypt.
• 2007: PB purchased the Cyprus arm of Arab Bank and renamed it Pireaus Bank (Cyprus).^[3]
• 2007: On 13 September Piraeus Bank S.A. completed its acquisition of 99.6% of the share capital of International Commercial Bank in Ukraine. In early 2008 PB changed the name to Bank of Piraeus ICB.

References

External links

• Official website