Piraeus Bank () is a
Greek multinational
financial services
Financial services are service (economics), economic services tied to finance provided by financial institutions. Financial services encompass a broad range of tertiary sector of the economy, service sector activities, especially as concerns finan ...
company with its headquarters in
Athens
Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
,
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
. Piraeus Bank's shares have been listed on the
Athens Stock Exchange (
ATHEX) since January 1918.
In Greece, with a 30% market share in loans (34.4 billion) and 29% in deposits (54.6 billion), it is the country's largest bank.
Piraeus has been designated as a Significant Institution since the entry into force of
European Banking Supervision in late 2014, and as a consequence is directly supervised by the
European Central Bank
The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central component of the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's Big Four (banking)#International ...
.
Overview
Piraeus Bank is a universal bank providing various banking services.
Historically a bank supportive of
SMEs it now also possesses particular know-how in the areas of agricultural banking, consumer and mortgage credit, green banking, capital markets, investment banking, leasing and electronic banking.
Piraeus Bank and its subsidiaries form the Piraeus Bank Group.
History

A group of shipowners in
Piraeus
Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens city centre along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...
founded ''Banque du Pirée'' (Piraeus Bank; BP) in 1916 to finance trade. The bank started trading on the Athens Exchange in 1918. The Greek government bought the bank in 1975 and transformed it into a
universal bank
A universal bank is a type of bank which participates in many kinds of banking activities and is both a commercial bank and an investment bank as well as providing other financial services such as insurance. These are also called full-service ...
. The new headquarters designed by
Sir Basil Spence were built on
Stadiou Street in the center of Athens. In December 1991 the government privatised the bank, which has grown in size and scope since then.
In 1962, PT joined the Emporiki Bank Group (or Andreadis Group). In On December 5, 1975, PT was nationalised and in 1991, the state privatized PT and the bank changed its name to Piraeus Bank (TP). Michalis Sallas takes over. In 1995 the Group established
Piraeus Bank Romania with 160 branches and one year later
Tirana Bank, the first privately owned banking institution in
Albania
Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...
with 56 branches. In 1999 with its acquisition of Xiosbank, PB took over Xios's branch in
Sofia
Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...
,
Bulgaria
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
; it has now some 83 branches in the country. PB also acquired the small New York-based Marathon National Bank and Interbank N.Y; it merged Interbank into ''Marathon Bank''.
In 1998 the bank absorbed the Greek branch networks of
Chase Manhattan Bank,
Crédit Lyonnais
The Crédit Lyonnais (, "Lyon Credit ompany) was a major French bank, created in 1863 and absorbed by former rival Crédit Agricole in 2003. Its head office was initially in Lyon but moved to Paris in 1882. In the early years of the 20th cen ...
, and acquired a controlling interest in Macedonia-Thrace Bank. A year later it added in the activities of
National Westminster Bank
National Westminster Bank, trading as NatWest, is a major retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank. In 2000, it becam ...
and acquired Xiosbank (Bank of Chios) which it totally absorbed along with Macedonia-Thrace Bank. In 2002 Piraeus Bank signed a strategic alliance with
ING Group
ING Group N.V. () is a Dutch multinational corporation, multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Amsterdam. Its primary businesses are retail banking, direct banking, commercial banking, investment banking, whol ...
(bancassurance). In 2005 it acquired the Bulgarian Eurobank, Atlas Bank in Serbia, Egyptian Commercial Bank in Egypt. In 2007 it expanded in Ukraine by acquiring the International Commerce Bank (renamed as Piraeus Bank ICB) and established Piraeus Bank Cyprus with the acquisition of
Arab Bank
Arab Bank is a Jordanian bank that is one of the largest financial institutions in the Middle East. It is headquartered today in Amman, Jordan, and operates as a universal bank that serves clients in more than 600 branches spanning five contine ...
Cyprus.
In 2002 the bank absorbed 58% of ETBA Bank (Hellenic Industrial Development Bank). PB also started a strategic alliance with
ING Group
ING Group N.V. () is a Dutch multinational corporation, multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Amsterdam. Its primary businesses are retail banking, direct banking, commercial banking, investment banking, whol ...
, which took a 5% stake in the Piraeus Bank. In 2006 the PB sold back to
ING
Ing, ING or ing may refer to:
Art and media
* '' ...ing'', a 2003 Korean film
* i.n.g, a Taiwanese girl group
* The Ing, a race of dark creatures in the 2004 video game '' Metroid Prime 2: Echoes''
* "Ing", the first song on The Roches' 199 ...
its stake in a jointly owned mutual funds company. Cooperation continues via the bank-assurance company ING-PIRAEUS.
In 2005 Piraeus Bank acquired the
Belgrade
Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
-based Atlas banka in
Serbia
, image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg
, national_motto =
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg
, national_anthem = ()
, image_map =
, map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
(today
Piraeus Bank Beograd with 42 branches), and the Egyptian Commercial Bank (today Piraeus Bank Egypt with 43).
In 2007 PB purchased the Cyprus arm of
Arab Bank
Arab Bank is a Jordanian bank that is one of the largest financial institutions in the Middle East. It is headquartered today in Amman, Jordan, and operates as a universal bank that serves clients in more than 600 branches spanning five contine ...
and renamed it Piraeus Bank (Cyprus).
On 13 September 2007 Piraeus Bank completed its acquisition of 99.6% of the share capital of ''International Commercial Bank'' in
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
, today named Piraeus ICB.
Within the
European debt crisis
The euro area crisis, often also referred to as the eurozone crisis, European debt crisis, or European sovereign debt crisis, was a multi-year debt crisis and financial crisis in the European Union (EU) from 2009 until, in Greece, 2018. The e ...
, Piraeus Bank has been subject to the
Greek austerity packages: the
Hellenic Financial Stability Fund became its main stock holder since 2012 and remained such as of 2020.
In 2011, according to reports in July 2012, the bank obscured its real access to capital by providing circular loans to finance purchase of its own stock through undeclared
offshore companies
The term "offshore company" or "offshore corporation" is used in at least two distinct and different ways. An offshore company may be a reference to:
* a company, Corporate group, group or sometimes a division thereof, which engages in offshorin ...
.
In 2012, Piraeus Bank took part in the restructuring of the
Greek banks, gaining a leading position in the Greek banking sector.
*In June 2012 Piraeus Bank sold its shares in Marathon Banking Corporation (New York City) to Investors Bancorp. The capital was used to finance the take over of the Greek banks
Geniki Bank and healthy parts of
ATEbank
The Agricultural Bank of Greece was a commercial bank based in Athens, Greece. The bank was founded in 1929. The bank proclaimed that it would focus on the Balkan bank market, with the business activities of supporting of the agricultural sector. ...
.
*In 2012 it acquired the so-called 'good' part of Agricultural Bank.
*In December 2012 it acquired Societe Generale's
Geniki Bank.
In 2013, Piraeus Bank was considered as having sufficient capital and was included in the group of 4 systemic banks which would be coordinated by the
Hellenic Financial Stability Fund to absorb undercapitalised banks. It would reach an international presence consisting of 370 branches focusing in Southeastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean as of 2014.
*In March 2013 it took over the Greek branches of
Bank of Cyprus
The Bank of Cyprus (BoC; ; ) is a Cypriot financial services company established in 1899 with its headquarters in Strovolos.
Bank of Cyprus has been designated as a Significant Institution since the entry into force of European Banking Supervisio ...
,
Hellenic Bank and
CPB Bank.
*In June 2013 it took over
Millennium Bank (Greece).
*In April 2015 it also absorbed the 'good' parts of small Greek Cooperative bank Panellinia.
*In May 2015 it sold its subsidiary in Egypt to
Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait.
After a probe by the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
over government bailouts following the
Greek government-debt crisis
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
** Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kn ...
, in July 2014 restructuring plans for the bank were approved.
In November 2015 the European Commission approved amended restructuring plans for
Alpha Bank and
Eurobank and then for Piraeus Bank on 29 November 2015, allowing a new injection of €2.72 billion of public funds via the
Hellenic Financial Stability Fund.
In the following years, Piraeus Bank proceeded to divest abroad.
*In March 2017, it sold Piraeus Bank Cyprus to an investment group led by Lebanese businessman Maurice Sehnaoui, which renamed it
AstroBank.
*In September 2017, it sold its Serbian banking and leasing operations of
Piraeus Bank Beograd, to
Direktna Banka A.D.
*In December 2017, it sold
Piraeus Bank Romania to
J.C. Flowers & Co.
*In April 2018, it sold
Piraeus Bank Beograd to
Direktna Banka A.D.
*In June 2019, it sold Piraeus Bank Bulgaria to Greek
Eurobank and merged with its bank
Postbank.
As of June 2019, the
Hellenic Financial Stability Fund held 26% of outstanding common shares,
while the remaining 74% was held by the private sector (legal entities and individuals).
HFSF had the option to €2 billion of perpetual bonds into Piraeus Bank shares in December 2022.
[ As of November 2020, the total market capitalization of the bank was less than €500 million. The conversion was triggered in November 2020, giving HFSF a further 35% share of the bank,] worth less than 200 million euro, a paper loss of over 1.5 billion euro.
In March 2024, the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund sold its entire 27 percent stake in Piraeus Bank, thus fully privatising the bank and raising 1.35 billion euros.
Head Office
The head office of Piraeus Bank in Athens was originally erected in the 1930s for the Pension Fund of the Greek Army (), which still owns it and leases it to the bank.
Controversy
Data Protection Fine
In May 2023, Piraeus Bank was fined €210k by the Greek Data Protection Supervisory Authority for unlawful processing of personal data and failure to respond to a request for information. This information is supported by a reference provided by the GDPR Fine Tracker Portal
See also
* List of banks in Greece
* List of companies of Greece
* Banking in Greece
References
External links
Piraeus Bank
Athens Exchange quote on BloombergBusiness
*
Piraeus Bank
OTC quote (Grey Market) on BloombergBusiness
{{Authority control
Banks of Greece
Companies listed on the Athens Exchange
Companies in the FTSE/Athex Large Cap
Companies based in Athens
Banks under direct supervision of the European Central Bank
Greek brands
Banks established in 1916
Greek companies established in 1916
Primary dealers