The Bank of Crete () was a commercial bank in Greece that functioned from 1980 to 1999.

History

George Koskotas George Koskotas (; born 5 October 1954, Aspropyrgos) is a Greek former banker and publisher whose ascension into a media magnate in the 1980's resulted in a financial scandal that brought down the PASOK government in 1989. Early life Koskotas w ...

bought the newly established Bank of Crete in 1984. At its height, the bank operated some 86 branches in all major Greek cities and a representative office in London. Koskotas and his bank were involved in a major corruption scandal in Greece in the late 1980s. Specifically in November 1988, a shortfall of US$132 million was discovered in the Bank of Crete some months after bank chairman Koskotas, a

Greek-American Greek Americans ( ''Ellinoamerikanoí'' ''Ellinoamerikánoi'' ) are Americans of full or partial Greek ancestry. There is an estimate of 1.2 million Americans of full or partial Greek ancestry. According to the US census, 264,066 people o ...

millionaire entrepreneur under investigation for large-scale financial crime, had fled the country. In the months that followed, alleged connections between Koskotas and the

PASOK The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (, ), known mostly by its acronym PASOK (; , ), is a social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Greece, political party in Greece. Until 2012 it was Two-party system, one of the two major ...

government, and even with

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Andreas Papandreou Andreas Georgiou Papandreou (, ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek academic and economist who founded the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) and served three terms as Prime minister of Greece, prime minister of Third Hellenic Repu ...

himself, brought the resignations of several ministers and demands for a

vote of no confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fi ...

in the government. Papandreou was eventually acquitted of criminal charges relating to the scandal in 1992. The Bank of Crete was sold to

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

through privatization in 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bank of Crete (1980-1999) Defunct banks of Greece Corruption in Greece Banks established in 1980 Banks disestablished in 1999 1999 disestablishments in Greece Greek companies established in 1980