A financial friend to all its customers
THE COUNTRY'S BEST KNOWN LENDER HAS TRIMMED ITS COSTS AND BOOSTED PROFITABILITY TO PREPARE FOR COMPETITION AND GROWTH AT HOME AND ABROAD

APOSTOPOLOS TAMVAKAKIS Vice Chairman of the National Bank of Greece

The National Bank of Greece (NBG) is one of the country’s best-known financial institutions with control of about 40 percent of the nation’s deposits and assets and around 600 branches nationwide.
Founded in 1841, it is the oldest and largest of the country’s banks. Though plans to buy rival Alpha Bank earlier this year have been scrapped, the institution remains an impressive and steadfast edifice in the turbulent world of financial services.
Apostopolos Tamvakakis, Vice-Chairman of NBG, calls it “the bank of the country”, a familiar friend to both personal customers and businesses, with a heavy local exposure and a strong international profile around the globe.
In the late 1990s, the bank reorganized much of its business and administrative operations, with a view to trimming costs and preparing for entry into the eurozone. It included measures to clean up its balance sheet, write off bad loans and shore up profitability. As a result, the bank is leaner and fitter, and better prepared for the challenges of future competition.

LOOKING to build up its asset base in the U.S. market, the National Bank of Greece is aiming as high as $100 billion.

Mr. Tamvakakis believes the bank is strong and healthy, with the right strategy and a higher quality asset base. “We are comfortable for the future,” he says.
Despite this formidable market position, he sees good growth potential in a number of areas in the local market, including the insurance business and in retail banking. In 2003, the bank will target the expansion of its insurance activities, while small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) are also in the sights for the retail banking side. He describes 2002 as “the attack year on SMEs.”
NBG has established a new business credit division specifically targeting the SME sector and its growing role in the development of the Greek economy. SMEs looking to grow their business can benefit from traditional lending products, such as leasing and factoring, and have access to additional funds via the bank’s subsidiary, Ethniki Venture Capital.

NBG'S 355 foreign branches include 20 in New York and Boston.

There are approximately 800,000 small businesses and professionals operating in Greece today, a number that is expected to grow sharply in the future. Indeed, the government hopes that the SME sector will become a key source of job creation in the coming years.
With an additional 355 branches outside Greece, overseas business is clearly a vital part of NBG’s corporate strategy. It owns or controls banks in a number of nearby states, including Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Romania, as well further afield. In the U.S., it owns Atlantic Bank of New York, which has more than 20 branches spread across New York and Boston. Since October 1999, NBG has also been listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Mr. Tamvakakis says that the company is looking to grow its presence in the American market as part of overall plans to develop the group. This includes building its asset base up from roughly $50 billion to as high as $100 billion, which could well mean further acquisitions in the retail and corporate banking sector. “We are big believers that our presence in the U.S. should grow,” he says.
At home, having reaffirmed its leading position in the Greek market – it holds more than seven million deposit accounts and one million lending accounts – the bank is further modernizing its operations, backed by investment in new technology, to better serve its customers and, of course, enhance profitability. It is developing and expanding alternative distribution channels for its products such as mobile and internet banking, for example.
With such a strong network of branches, supporting more than a thousand ATM machines, a number that is constantly on the increase, it is easy to see why many agree with Mr. Tamvakakis and regard NBG as the nation’s bank.