Piraeus Bank

Piraeus Bank was founded in 1916, and in 1918 its shares were listed on the Athens Stock Exchange.⁠[1][1]

In 1963, Piraeus Bank was integrated into Greece’s Emporiki Bank Group; in 1975, it came under state control within the Emporiki Bank Group.⁠[1][1]

Piraeus Bank was privatized in 1991 and underwent restructuring and reform in 1992. In 1993 it set up subsidiaries including Piraeus Leasing, Piraeus Mutual Funds, and Piraeus Insurance Agency and began operations in Bulgaria; in 1996 it established Tirana Bank in Albania.⁠[1][1][1][1][1]

Between 1997 and 1999, it acquired Sigma Securities, absorbed the assets and liabilities of Chase Manhattan Bank in Athens and of National Westminster Bank in Greece, acquired Macedonia-Thrace Bank and Credit Lyonnais Hellas, agreed to acquire a 56% stake in Marathon National Bank of New York (completed in mid-1999), agreed to acquire Pater Credit Bank in Romania, and set up a London branch.⁠[1][1][1][1][1][1][1]

In 2000, Piraeus Bank absorbed Macedonia-Thrace Bank and XiosBank and launched the e-banking platform winbank; in 2002 it acquired 58% of ETBAbank, which it absorbed in 2003; in 2002 it formed a strategic bancassurance partnership with ING, renewing an exclusive 10-year life bancassurance agreement in 2007.⁠[1][1][1][1][1][1]

Abroad, in 2005 it acquired Eurobank in Bulgaria (later renamed Piraeus Bank Bulgaria), Atlas Banka in Serbia, and Egyptian Commercial Bank in Egypt; in 2007 it acquired International Commerce Bank in Ukraine and completed a €1.3 billion share capital increase; in 2008 it established its Cypriot subsidiary, Piraeus Bank (Cyprus) Ltd.⁠[1][1][1][1]

After the global financial crisis broke out, Greece provided liquidity support to its banks under Law 3723/2008. In 2009 and 2011, the Greek government subscribed through in-kind contributions to €370 million and €380 million, respectively, of non-voting preference shares in Piraeus Bank; in 2011 the bank also completed a €0.8 billion share capital increase.⁠[1][1][1]

In 2012, Piraeus Bank absorbed the “good” part of the Agricultural Bank of Greece (ATEbank), acquired Société Générale’s 99.08% stake in Geniki Bank, and sold its 98.5% stake in Marathon Banking Corporation in New York to Investors Bancorp.⁠[1][1][1]

In 2013, during the Cypriot banking crisis, it acquired all deposits, loans, and branches in Greece of Bank of Cyprus, Cyprus Popular Bank, and Hellenic Bank, and acquired all of Millennium BCP’s shares in its Greek subsidiary Millennium Bank; in December of that year it completed the final step of integrating these banks and the former ATEbank into its systems.⁠[1][1][1]

In June 2013, Piraeus Bank completed an €8.4 billion share capital increase, of which €7.3 billion was a recapitalization increase; private investors took up €1.4 billion, about 20%, and the rest was subscribed by the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF) through an in-kind contribution of European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) bonds.⁠[1][1]

In 2014, Piraeus Bank redeemed €750 million of preference shares held by the Greek government under Law 3723/2008, completed a €1.75 billion cash share capital increase that cancelled existing shareholders’ pre-emption rights, and placed a €500 million three-year senior unsecured bond in the international debt markets.⁠[1][1][1]

From December 2014 to June 2015, Greek banks suffered heavy deposit outflows, and banks across the country were closed from June 28 to July 18, 2015. In October of that year, the European Central Bank’s Single Supervisory Mechanism carried out a comprehensive assessment of Greece’s four significant banks and ultimately put Piraeus Bank’s capital shortfall at €4.66 billion.⁠[2][2][2][2]

In November 2015, the bank raised €1.94 billion from private investors to cover the capital needs under the stress test’s baseline scenario, €602 million of it through a liability management exercise converting Tier 1, Tier 2, and senior notes into ordinary shares. In December, the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund injected €2.72 billion in European Stability Mechanism notes, acquiring €680 million of ordinary shares and €2.04 billion of contingent convertible bonds (CoCos), for a 26% stake.⁠[2][2][2]

That year the bank also announced the acquisition of the “good” part of Panellinia Bank (26 branches and €574 million of customer deposits as of the end of 2014) and agreed to sell its 98.5% stake in its Egyptian subsidiary, Piraeus Bank Egypt.⁠[1][1][1][1]

In 2016, Piraeus Bank repaid the last of the Greek government guarantees it had obtained under Law 3723/2008, ending its obligations under the related support program, including the requirement to have a government representative on its board; in November its board elected George Handjinicolaou as chairman, and it announced the sale of shares in its Cypriot subsidiary and the transfer of all shares of ATE Insurance to Ergo International, a subsidiary of Munich Re.⁠[1][1][1][1][1]

In 2017, the bank completed a full overhaul of its board; during this period, the board unanimously elected Christos Megalou, a former chief executive of Eurobank Ergasias who had earlier held senior investment banking positions at Credit Suisse, as chief executive. In May 2017 the bank announced its “Agenda 2020” strategic plan, whose first objective was reducing non-performing loans, and in October it issued its first covered bond, a €500 million five-year issue.⁠[1][1][1][1][1][1]

In 2018 and 2019, Piraeus Bank completed the sales of its Serbian, Romanian, Albanian, and Bulgarian subsidiaries, as well as of Olympic, the subsidiary holding the Avis and other car rental master franchises.⁠[1][1][1][1][1]

Over the same period it sold several portfolios of non-performing loans, including €1.4 billion gross book value of corporate non-performing loans to Bain Capital Credit in 2018 and €0.5 billion of corporate non-performing exposures to an entity affiliated with Davidson Kempner in 2019, and in June 2019 it formed a strategic partnership with Intrum for managing non-performing assets; in 2018 it applied International Financial Reporting Standard 9 (IFRS 9) for the first time.⁠[1][1][1][1]

The bank had missed an annual coupon payment on its contingent convertible bonds in 2018. In 2020 it requested approval to pay the €165 million annual coupon to the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund, and on November 23 it announced that the ECB’s Governing Council had not approved the request, meaning that under their terms the bonds would convert into ordinary shares and the fund would become the majority shareholder.⁠[2][2][2]

In January 2021, the bank transferred its banking business to a new banking entity through a hive-down, and the listed company Piraeus Bank S.A. was renamed Piraeus Financial Holdings S.A. In the same month, the €2.04 billion of contingent convertible bonds issued in the 2015 recapitalization and held entirely by the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund automatically converted into 394.4 million new ordinary shares, raising the fund’s stake to 61.3%.⁠[1][1][3]

In April 2021, Piraeus Financial Holdings completed a €1.4 billion share capital increase, oversubscribed more than three times, after which the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund’s stake fell to 27%. In June it issued its first Additional Tier 1 instrument, of €600 million, and in November its first green senior preferred bond, of €500 million.⁠[1][2][1][1]

On March 6, 2024, the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund completed the sale of its 27% stake in Piraeus Financial Holdings, 337,599,150 shares, through a parallel Greek public offering and international placement. On March 7 the price was set at €4.00 per share; total demand was about 7.92 times the shares offered, and the fund’s gross proceeds were about €1.35 billion.⁠[4][4][4][4][4][4]

On March 11, the Athens Stock Exchange held a bell-ringing ceremony to mark the sale. Chief executive Christos Megalou said the sale drew bids nearing €11 billion and marked Piraeus Bank’s full return to the private sector.⁠[5][5]

On November 27, 2025, Piraeus Bank completed the acquisition of all shares of Ethniki Holdings S.à.r.l., the parent company of Ethniki Insurance, from a CVC Capital Partners fund and National Bank of Greece for €0.6 billion in cash (the deal had been announced on March 12 that year). Ethniki Insurance is Greece’s oldest insurance company, with 1.9 million active customers, a 14.2% market share, and €835 million of gross written premiums as of 2025.⁠[6][6][6][6][6]

On December 19, 2025, following approval by extraordinary general meetings on December 5 and consent from the ECB’s Single Supervisory Mechanism, Piraeus Bank completed the reverse merger by absorption of the listed holding company Piraeus Financial Holdings: the bank took over all of the holding company’s assets and liabilities as universal successor, the holding company was dissolved without liquidation and delisted from the Athens Stock Exchange, and its shareholders received bank shares on a one-for-one basis.⁠[6][6][6][6][6][6]

The same day, the Athens Stock Exchange approved the listing of 1,235,953,028 new bank shares, which began trading on December 22 at a starting price of €7.022, the holding company’s closing price on its last trading day.⁠[6][6][6]

Full-year 2025 results published on February 26, 2026, showed profit of €1.1 billion, a 16% return on tangible book value normalized for one-offs, and earnings per share of €0.82; at year-end client loans stood at €37.3 billion after €3.9 billion of net credit expansion during the year, with €13.3 billion of new loans disbursed in the Greek economy in 2025; client deposits were €66.1 billion and assets under management €14.5 billion.⁠[6][6][6][6][6][6][6]

At the end of 2025, its common equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio was 12.7%, its total capital ratio 18.7%, and its non-performing exposure ratio 2.0%; the group had 8,472 employees, 8,100 of them in Greece. The bank raised its distribution of 2025 profits to 55%, a cash dividend of €0.40 per share (€492 million), on top of a €100 million share buyback in the fourth quarter. In the third quarter of 2025 its digital bank Snappi launched in Greece, gaining 60,000 customers in one quarter.⁠[6][6][6][6][6][6][6]

On July 20, 2026, S&P Global Ratings raised Piraeus’s long-term and short-term issuer credit ratings from “BB+/B” to investment-grade “BBB-/A-3,” with a stable outlook. As a result, all international rating agencies covering the bank rate it investment grade.⁠[7][7]

First-half results published on July 29, 2026, showed profit of €617 million, a 16% return on tangible book value, and earnings per share of €0.47; at the end of June client loans were €39.0 billion, client deposits €68.4 billion, the CET1 ratio 12.8%, and the non-performing exposure ratio 2.2%. A €494 million cash distribution from 2025 profits was scheduled for payment on August 7, 2026.⁠[7][7][7][7][7][7][7][7]

In the first half, Piraeus joined Qivalis, a consortium of European banks planning to issue a MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin under the planned supervision of De Nederlandsche Bank, bringing membership to 37 banks in 15 countries; the bank also became the first Greek bank certified under ISO/IEC 42001 for its artificial intelligence management system.⁠[7][7][7][7]

In September 2026, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) updated its MiCA register of crypto-asset service providers to add four Greek institutions, BCash, Xenios Blockchain GroupXenios Blockchain GroupXenios Blockchain Group is a Greek blockchain company that provides enterprise tokenization solutions based on distributed ledger technology and crypto-asset services. In 2026 it was authorized by the Hellenic Capital Market Commission as a crypto-asset service provider under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), and in September of that year it became one of the first four Greek institutions on the MiCA register of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).Open the full entry, Capital Wallet GreeceCapital Wallet GreeceCapital Wallet Greece is the Greek operating company of the crypto payment gateway brand Capital Wallet; its full legal name is Capital Wallet Greece Single-Member Société Anonyme. In 2026 it was authorized by the Hellenic Capital Market Commission as a crypto-asset service provider under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), and in September of that year it became one of the first four Greek institutions on the MiCA register of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).Open the full entry, and Piraeus Bank, the first time any Greek institution appeared on the register. The Bank of Greece is listed as Piraeus Bank’s competent authority, while for the other three it is the Hellenic Capital Market Commission.⁠[8][9][8][9]

As of September 2026, Piraeus Bank had 1,235,953,028 ordinary shares outstanding with a nominal value of €0.93 each and about 22,800 common shareholders, with legal entities holding 94% and individuals 6%.⁠[10][10]

As of October 2026, Piraeus Bank describes itself as Greece’s largest bank by customer loans and deposits, with the country’s largest distribution network, offering financial products and services to 4.5 million active customers; it is one of Greece’s four systemic banks, and its chief executive is Christos Megalou and its chairman George Handjinicolaou.⁠[1][6][11][7][6]

Piraeus Bank: Official website: https://www.piraeusgroup.gr/ (opens in a new window).⁠[11]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/piraeus-bank/ (opens in a new window)⁠[12]