Piraeus Bank

From Wikicompany

Piraeus Bank is a large Greek bank with about 270 branches, including one in London, and subsidiaries in New York and the Balkans.

History

National expansion

• 1916: Banque du Piree (Piraeus Bank; BP) established.
• 1975: BP came under government ownership.
• 1991: The government privatized BP and the bank changed its name to Piraeus Bank (PB).
• 1998: PB absorbed the activities of Chase Manhattan Bank (2 branches) in Greece, and Credit Lyonnais Greece. It also acquired 37% of Macedonia-Thrace Bank from National Bank of Greece in a privatization.
• 1999: PB acquired 35% of Xios Bank. PB also absorbed the activities of National Westminster Bank in Greece.
• 2000: PB merged in Macedonia-Thrace Bank and Xios Bank.
• 2002: PB acquired 58% of ETBA Bank (Hellenic Industrial Development Bank) from the Greek government with a view to merging it. PB also entered into a strategic alliance with ING Group, which took a 5% stake in PB.
• 2003: PB merged in ETBA Bank.

International expansion

• 1995: PB established Piraeus Bank Romania.
• 1996: PB established Tirana Bank. This was the first privately owned banking institution in Albania and now has 15 branches.
• 1999: with its acquisition of Xiosbank, PB gets Xios's branch in Sofia, Bulgaria, and PB now has some 15 branches in the country. PB also acquires Marathon National Bank of Astoria] New York, which has branches in Astoria, Bayside, Broadway and Bayridge. Astoria is a town with a large population fo Greek descent.
• 2000: PB acquires Pater Bank in Romania from Budapest Bank. Pater Bank targeted Hungarians living in Romania.
• 2003: PB acquired Interbank N.Y., which operated a network of 5 branches in New York City, and specifically in Brooklyn, Astoria, Queens, as well as in Park Avenue, downtown Manhattan. PB then merged Interbank with Marathon National.

PB has a branch in London, and had a branch in Frankfurt that it may have closed.