Piraeus Bank Group is one of the most dynamic and active financial organisations in Greece today. Founded in 1916, Piraeus Bank went through a period of state-ownership and management before it was privatised in Dec 1991. Since then, it has continuously grown in size and activities.

Along with its organic growth, Piraeus Bank made a series of strategic moves with the goal of establishing a strong presence in the domestic market.

Today, Piraeus Bank leads a group of companies covering all financial and banking activities in the Greek market (universal bank). Piraeus Bank possesses particular know-how in the areas of retail banking, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), capital markets and investment banking, leasing.

These services are offered through the Bank's nation-wide network and also through the electronic banking network of winbank.

The Group has a growing international presence, focused in Southeastern Europe and Eastern Mediterranean, but also in the financial centres of London and New York. In particular, the Group is present in the USA, in London, in Albania, in Romania, in Bulgaria, in Serbia, in Ukraine, in Cyprus and in Egypt.

The main medium term goals of the Group are to maintain a balanced growth in terms of loans and deposits, achieve high efficiency and sustain superior asset quality. Piraeus will continue to focus on SMEs and retail banking segments, where it holds strong expertise, while capitalizing on its young branch network, both in Greece and abroad.

The Group's fundamental objective for its people is to enable them to succeed and ensure their commitment to the achievement of excellent results and the effective management of challenges arising in the fast changing environment.

At the end of Mar09, the Group had a network of 902 branches (358 in Greece and 544 abroad), employed 13,935 people and its equity capital amounted to €3,058 mn and total assets were €53,757 mn.