Gikas Hardouvelis

Gikas Hardouvelis ( el, Γκίκας Χαρδούβελης ; born 8 October 1955) is a Greek economist and Professor of Finance, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Bank of Greece, and a former Minister of Finance of Greece. He replaced Yannis Stournaras on 10 June 2014 following a cabinet reshuffle.

Early life and education

Hardouvelis was born in the village of Poulithra in Arcadia by Angelos G. Hardouvelis (b.1915, d. 2000) and Zaharoula P. Constantinou (b.1925, d.1992). At the age of 12, after a country wide competition, he won a full scholarship and for seven years he moved to Northern Greece in boarding school, attending Anatolia College in Thessaloniki, and graduating in 1974. He subsequently moved to the United States on full scholarship and earned a B.A. (magna cum laude) and M.Sc. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University (both in 1978), and later a Ph.D. in Economics from U.C. Berkeley (1985).

Career

Hardouvelis has a diverse career, spanning academia, central banking, commercial banking and government.

Since 1994 he is a Professor of Finance and Economics in the Department of Banking and Financial Management of the University of Piraeus in Greece. Earlier he served as Associate Professor and Full Professor of Finance in the Business School of  Rutgers University in New Brunswick (1989–1993), and as an Assistant Professor of Economics at Barnard College, Columbia University in New York City (1983–1989, on leave from 1987).

Hardouvelis has served two central banks, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (from 1987 to 1989 as an Economist and Senior Economist, and from 1989 to 1993 as an Academic Adviser) and the Bank of Greece (1994–1995) as an Adviser and Alternate of the Governor at the European Monetary Institute (the precursor to the European Central Bank).

His research work at the New York Fed on margin requirements had a crucial impact on shaping the reform of the legal framework governing the markets of futures on stock indices in the US.

His other research work at the NY Fed with Arturo Estrella on the shape of the yield curve as a predictor of future economic activity is still widely followed by academics and market participants.

At the Bank of Greece, he actively participated in the formation of the rules that govern the ECB and would allow EU countries to become member of the Eurozone.  

Hardouvelis has also played a key role in the development of the Greek financial system. He was a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Athens Derivatives Exchange (1997–2000). In addition, he worked for two Greek systemic banks, the National Bank of Greece and Eurobank.

Between 1996 and 2000 he held the post of Director of Strategic Planning & Research and Group Chief Economist at the National Bank of Greece, where he helped the bank’s transformation into a competitive institution and its expansion abroad: He restructured the Economic Analysis Division, he developed the first Risk Management Division in Greece and introduced VaR and asset-liability management models, he established and headed the Assets-Liabilities Management Department, and the Investors Relations Department. He returned to the National Bank of Greece in July 2019 as a member of its Board and the Senior Independent Director, while in July 2021 he became Chairman of its Board of Directors.

At Eurobank, he held the position of Group Chief Economist, Head of Economic Research and Member of its Executive Committee. He joined in 2005 and resigned in 2014 to become Finance Minister. His service to the Greek government began in May 2000 as the Director of the Economic Affairs Office of the Prime Minister Costas Simitis (on secondment from the National Bank of Greece) until March 2004. He subsequently held the same position as the Director of the Economic Affairs Office of the Prime Minister Lucas Papademos (November 2011 – May 2012), assisting the technocratic coalition government during talks with bondholders about a write-down of debt and with the International Monetary Fund, European Commission and the European Central Bank on Greece’s second adjustment program.

In June 2014 he became the Minister of Finance in the government of Antonis Samaras, a position he held until January 2015, when a new government came to power. During his term in office, among other items, he legislated the Deferred Tax Credit, which allowed Greek banks to retain most of their capital intact in view of the post 2014 Basel III stricter requirements.

Today Hardouvelis is also First Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors and member of the Executive Committee of the Foundation for Economic & Industrial Research, research fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research in London, member of the Academic Council of the Cyprus International Institute of Management, and a Trustee of Anatolia College, a non-profit primary, secondary and tertiary educational institution. In the past he has also been a member of the Academic Council of the Hellenic Banks Association (HBA), its President and the HBA EBF-EMAC representative.

Academic work

His academic work extends in finance and macroeconomics and is published in many internationally renowned journals, including The American Economic Review, The Journal of Finance, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Journal of Monetary Economics and others.

He was among the top-50 individual publishers worldwide in applied econometrics over 1989 to 1995.

His work on margin requirements had a crucial impact on shaping the reform of the legal framework governing the markets of futures on stock indices in the US.

References

External links

Personal websiteDepartment of Banking & Financial Management
University of Piraeus, Greece

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardouvelis, Gikas
1955 births
Columbia University faculty
Finance ministers of Greece
20th-century Greek economists
Greek government-debt crisis
Harvard University alumni
Living people
Rutgers University faculty
University of California, Berkeley alumni
Academic staff of the University of Piraeus
People from Leonidio
21st-century Greek economists