Piraeus Bank wants financial group and new headquarters

Piraeus Bank will complement its financial group structure created around the bank with insurance and securities brokers and an asset manager. At the same time, the bank will continue to expand its territorial network rapidly, but will also start construction of new headquarters. “We will develop as a bank but we will also launch other financial services. We are at the finalisation stage for the insurance and securities brokerage firms, which will become operational by the end of June. After we are done with these projects, we want to create an asset-management company,” Sofronis Strinopoulos, Piraeus Bank Romania”s chief executive told ZIARUL FINANCIAR. He says the asset management unit, which should become operational by yearend will create mutual funds on the domestic market, but will also provide access to the funds managed by the group on the international markets. Information floating around the capital market points to Piraeus reportedly being in the process of acquiring a brokerage firm, European Securities, held by a group of Greek investors. Strinopoulos says “acquisitions are not out of the question” but he “cannot comment” on this information. The Greek group currently operates a bank, as well as a leasing company, Piraeus Leasing on the Romanian market, whose assets should double to 100 million euros this year. Strinopoulos says that works on new headquarters for the bank are due to the start in midyear, on Soseaua Nicolae Titulescu. ZF