Eurobank Ergasias

The Eurobank Group is a financial organisation that operates in Greece, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Serbia, Bulgaria and UK. As of December 2018, the Eurobank Group counts, in assets, 653 customer service locations in Greece and abroad, and 13,162 employees.

History

The Euromerchant Bank SA (, ) was founded in 1990. It took over 75% of EFG Private Bank (Luxembourg) S.A.'s operations, which was integrated into it 1994. Acquisitions in Greece included Interbank Greece S.A. in 1996-97 and the branch network of Credit Lyonnais Greece S.A., 99.8% of Cretabank in 1998, Bank of Athens in 1999 and 50.1% of Ergobank.

In 1997, the Euromerchant Bank SA changed its name to EFG Eurobank S.A. and in 2000 to EFG Eurobank Ergasias S.A. after taking over the renowned Ergasias Bank. A financial products subsidiary was founded in 2007 (49.9% owned by employees). In 2012, the bank sold 70% of the Polish branches called ''Polbank'' to Raiffeisen Bank International.

In 2012, the Spiros Latsis associated Eurobank EFG merger with Giannis Kostopoulos's ( el, Γιάννης Κωστόπουλος) Alpha Bank was cancelled because of the Greek debt crisis. The proposed merger included a capital boost from Qatar Investment Authority of 500 million euro convertible bond and a 1.25 billion euro rights issue which would have Qatar Investment Authority a major shareholder and from Southeast Europe's biggest bank with assets of 150 billion euros and 80 billion euros of deposits.

After the Greek financial crisis and bailouts of Greek banks in 2012, Swiss-Luxembourg based EFG Group—the then owner of Eurobank—was told to separate the Greek bank from the rest of its business. In July of that year Eurobank was deconsolidated from the group and its shares sold to the Greek Latsis family and it was renamed Eurobank Ergasias.

In January 2013, the National Bank of Greece made an offer, which ultimately did not go through, to take over Eurobank Ergasias; 64,000 Eurobank shareholders and the Greek capital market commission agreed. A few weeks after the buyout proposal NBG presented plans to reduce the staff of the new banking group, especially by means of encouraging early retirement.

The bank was the third largest in Greece by total asset by total loans and total deposits, and the fourth by market capitalisation—as at December 2014.

Since 1 February 2015, the chairman and non-executive director of Eurobank Ergasias has been Nikolaos Karamouzis; Fokion Karavias has been the CEO and executive director since the same day.
Canadian fund Fairfax Financial are major shareholders, with an 18.2% stake in 2018, that was increased after the takeover of Grivalia Properties until 32.9%.

In the end of year 2015 results, total net loans were (non performing 43.8%, of which provisions were at 53.3%), customer deposits , and central bank funding was .

At the end of 2020, the bad loans of the group reached an amount of €5.7 billion. In March 2020, Eurobank announced a project for reducing its nonperforming loans index from 14% to 9%.

Major acquisitions

* In 1998, 78.23% of Bulgarian Postbank was taken over.
*In 2000 Acquisition of a 19.25% participation in Bancpost in Romania, which was later increased
*In 2002 EFG Eurobank Ergasias – Telesis Investment Bank merger. Acquisition of 50% in Alico / CEH Balkan Holdings leading to a 43% participation in Postbank Bulgaria
*In 2003 Merger through absorption of "Ergoinvest S.A.". Merger by absorption of "Investment Development Fund S.A.". Establishment of Euroline Retail Services (Romania) - 80% Eurobank Cards and 19.961% Bancpost. Establishment of Eurocredit Retail Services (Cyprus) as a 100% subsidiary of Eurobank Cards.
*In 2004 Establishment of Euroline Retail Services AD (Serbia) - 100% subsidiary of Eurobank Cards
*In 2006 Acquisition of 100% of ''Nacionalna štedionica–banka'' in Serbia and forming Eurobank a.d.
*In 2006 Acquisition of 70% of Tekfenbank, which is a Turkish bank, 99.3% of Universal Bank and 74.3% of Bulgarian Postbank in Bulgaria
*On 23 December 2012, Eurobank sells all its shares (70%) of the Tekfenbank to Kuwait's Burgan Bank.
*During 2014, Eurobank receives a total of $1.55 billion from several investors including Wilbur Ross (€37.5 million) and the Prem Watsa founded Fairfax Financial Holdings (€400 million).
*On 16 January 2015, Eurobank asks Greek Central Bank for Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA)
*On 17 July 2015 the subsidiary Postbank (Bulgaria) buys the Bulgarian branches of fellow Greek lender Alpha Bank.
*In April 2018, its Romanian subsidiary, Bancpost, was sold to Banca Transilvania, the largest Romanian bank.
*In November 2018, Eurobank announced the acquisition of the real estate investment company Grivalia Properties, controlled by Fairfax Financial Holdings through its 51% stake. Fairfax increased its stake in Eurobank after the takeover from 18% to 32.9%. In the same month, Eurobank acquired Piraeus Bank's banking subsidiary in Bulgaria (PBB).

Branches

Serbia

Eurobank Direktna a.d. is a bank founded in 2006, with headquarters in Belgrade, Serbia. It is a subsidiary Eurobank Ergasias; and has 80 branches in Serbia. Eurobank started operating in Serbia in 2003. The first five years were marked by the acquisition of Postbanka, followed by the merger with Nacionalna štedionica Banka. In October 2006, the bank began operating under a single brand, name and visual identity. In 2016, the bank had €1.337 billion in assets and revenue of €18.42 million. In December 2021, the bank merged with Direktna Banka and was renamed to Eurobank Direktna.

See also

* Banking in Greece
*List of banks in Greece
*List of companies of Greece

References

External links

*

Company profile
on the website of the Athens Stock Exchange
Stock quote
on Bloomberg

{{Authority control

Banks of Greece
Companies listed on the Athens Exchange
Greek brands
Banks under direct supervision of the European Central Bank
Greek companies established in 1990
Banks established in 1990