Bank of Greece

The Bank of Greece ( el, Τράπεζα της Ελλάδος , ΤτΕ) is the central bank of Greece. Its headquarters is located in Athens on Panepistimiou Street, but it also has several branches across the country. It was founded in 1927 and its operations started officially in 1928. The building that currently houses its headquarters was completed ten years later in 1938.

The Bank of Greece is listed on the Athens Exchange.

Introduction

The Bank of Greece, a member of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), is the national central bank of Greece and was established by Law 3424/7 December 1927. The shares of the Bank of Greece are registered and have been listed on the Athens Exchange since June 12, 1930.

It is a partially state owned S.A. share company with special privileges, special restrictions, and duties. It cannot operate as a commercial bank and the percentage of shares that can be under Greek state ownership cannot exceed 35% (initially this limit was 10%). It has a staff of more than 1,800 employees.

The primary objective of the Bank of Greece is to ensure price stability in Greece. It also supervises the private banks and acts as a treasurer and fiscal agent for the Greek government. Since law 3867/2010 was passed the Bank of Greece is also responsible for supervising private insurance companies, merging with the Committee for the Supervision of Insurance Companies established by law 3229/2004.

Its Euro banknotes printer identification code is Y.

The Bank of Greece also sells gold sovereigns.

Governor

The chief officer of the Bank of Greece is the Governor ( el, διοικητής, ), a governmental appointee.

List of governors of the Bank of Greece

^a During the Axis occupation of Greece (1941–44), Governor Kyriakos Varvaresos followed the Greek government in exile to London. The collaborationist governments in Greece fired Varvaresos in 1941 and appointed first Miltiadis Negrepontis as Governing Counsellor (April 24, 1941 – July 3, 1941) and then Dimitrios Santis (July 3, 1941 – January 20, 1943) and finally Theodoros Tourkovasilis (April 19, 1943 – April 13, 1944) as Governors. After the liberation all dismissals and appointments by occupation-era governments concerning members of the administration of the Bank of Greece were declared null and void.

Deputy governors

The deputy governor ( el, υποδιοικητής, translit=ypodioikētés) is the Bank's second-in-line officer. Traditionally the Deputy Governors' main remit is administration, whereas Governors supervise monetary policy at large.Deputy Governors of the Bank of Greece
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* Emmanouil Tsouderos: April 21, 1928 – October 31, 1931
* Emmanouil Kamaras: November 25, 1931 – May 30, 1932
* Kyriakos Varvaresos: March 1, 1933 – August 4, 1939
* Georgios Mantzavinos (*): September 28, 1936 – February 11, 1946
* Ioannis Arvanitis: August 4, 1939 – April 26, 1941
* Stylianos Gregoriou: March 28, 1945 – February 2, 1955
* Vasileios Kyriakopoulos: February 5, 1955 – December 24, 1955
* Dimitrios Galanis: December 31, 1955 – August 7, 1967
* Ioannis Pesmazoglou: February 11, 1960 – August 5, 1967
*Konstantinos Thanos: January 5, 1968 – September 10, 1969
* Efstathios Panas: September 11, 1969 – August 9, 1974
* Nikolaos Kyriazidis: August 9, 1974 – January 5, 1977
* Nikolaos Charisopoulos: October 21, 1975 – November 6, 1981
* Evangelos Devletoglou: December 23, 1977 – November 8, 1978
* Georgios Drakos: November 24, 1978 – October 20, 1981
* Dimitrios Chalikias: November 16, 1981 – February 6, 1984
* Evangelos Kourakos (1st period): July 10, 1982 – February 11, 1986
* Panagiotis Korliras: February 20, 1984 – August 30, 1985
* Efstathios Papageorgiou: September 17, 1985 – September 17, 1989
* George Provopoulos: October 1, 1990 – November 29, 1993
* Vasileios Antonioudakis: October 1, 1990 – December 19, 1991
* Panagiotis Pavlopoulos: February 21, 1992 – November 29, 1993
*Evangelos Kourakos (2nd period): December 1, 1993 – September 4, 1996
* Lucas Papademos: December 1, 1993 – October 26, 1994
* Panagiotis Thomopoulos: October 26, 1994 – February 26, 2009
* Nikolaos Garganas: September 5, 1996 – June 13, 2002
* Nikolaos Palaiokrassas: June 14, 2002 – June 14, 2008
* Eleni Dendrinou Louri: June 20, 2008 – June 20, 2014
* Iannis Mourmouras: September, 2014 -
* Theodoros Mitrakos: March 2015 -

(*): During the Axis occupation of Greece (1941–44), Deputy Governor Georgios Mantzavinos followed the Greek government in exile to London. The collaborationist governments in Greece fired Mantzavinos in 1941 and appointed Andreas Papadimitriou (July 3, 1941 – November 18, 1941) and Spyridon Hatzikyriakos (April 5, 1943 – October 5, 1944) as Deputy Governors. After the liberation all dismissals and appointments by occupation-era governments concerning members of the administration of the Bank of Greece were declared null and void.

See also

* Banking in Greece
* List of banks in Greece

General:
* Economy of Greece
*European System of Central Banks

References

Hellenic Parliament June 2015 Page 22

External links

Bank of Greece official site

Governor report on the balance sheet of 31st December 1928

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bank of Greece
Bank of Greece,
Banks established in 1927
Companies listed on the Athens Exchange
Greece
Government-owned companies of Greece
Greek companies established in 1927