PIRAEUS BANK

Developments seem to be accelerating after a group of shareholders announced their proposal for a share capital hike at the bank, accompanied by a series of terms and conditions that make its implementation difficult.

Based on the Forbes billionaire list, Mystakidis had $1.1 billion in assets in April 2020, down from $2.1 billion a year earlier as the capitalization of Glencore had fallen sigificantly - a company in which he holds more than 3 percent, despite the fact that since the end of 2018 he has withdrawn from management duties.

Since the beginning of the year, the general index has fallen by 35 percent while the bank index has given up 65 percent. The situation with European and American banks is similar. Losses booked by domestic banks are almost double as the pan-European index of banks has declined by 35 percent while US bank shares have fallen by 28 percent.

Bank officials estimate, and hope, that the rebound will be V-shaped, and that the sharp decline in GDP in the second quarter will be followed by a strong recovery as of the fourth quarter of 2020, restoring economies and markets to normal.

George Handjinicolaou, Chairman of the board of directors, commenting on the results said: “The coronavirus is proving to be an unprecedented health emergency for societies around the world, which is mutating into a significant economic shock to the economies".

In a very well-coordinated operation tens of officials from the Competition Committee raided the head offices of Greece's four systemic banks - Eurobank, Alpha Bank, National Bank and Piraeus Bank - and the Hellenic Bank Association. The Competition Committee did not inform the banks about the reason behind the operation.

Intrum aims for a long-term investment in Greece, Mikael Ericson the company's CEO said on Friday. Speaking to reporters in Athens, Ericson expressed his satisfaction over the quality of the human resources and of the management team of Intrum in Greece and noted that the aim of Intrum Hellas was the offer long-term and sustainable repayment solutions to Piraeus Bank's debtors, while it also aspires to take over the management of third-party portfolios in the future.

Piraeus Bank and Intrum concluded yesterday to a strategic agreement in order to establish credit management servicer in Greece. The new servicer is licensed and regulated by the Bank of Greece.

Piraeus Bank has agreed to support a new 650 million euros infrastructure investment programme developed by the Hellenic Ministry of Development and Investments and the European Investment Bank.