ATE Bank targets 1 bn-euro credits in 4 years

ATE Bank (Greece’s Agricultural Bank), which entered the local market two years ago via the acquisition of a small player, plans to reach credits worth a billion euros in about four years, from 140 million euros at present. “We will grow organically. However, we are quite conservative when it comes to expanding our territorial network,” says Panos Varangis, vice-governor of the ATE Bank group. The group’s executive management came to Bucharest at the beginning of this week to celebrate two years since its entry onto the local market. In the summer of 2006, the Greek acquired the controlling stake in Mindbank, one of the first private banks established at the beginning of the 1990s, but which had remained very small in size in the absence of a strong shareholder. After takeover, the Greek changed the bank’s name to show its membership to the group and appointed a new management team. ATE Bank Romania currently operates a network of 16 branches, with their number to reach 30 by the end of the year. Another 20 branches are planned for opening in 2009. The expansion of the territorial network should bring the volume of credits to 200 million euros this year.