1. Piraeus Bank is one of the most dynamic and fast-developing financial organisations in Greece. The forecasted development of the Greek economy, with growth rates of 3%-4% in the next few years, will be good for Piraeus’ continuous growth and is expected to further support its business expansion. The relatively low degree of banking intermediation in the Greek economy, which stands at about 50% of the EU average, means that Piraeus Bank’s business volumes could double in the next five years.
2. We made an early start on studying the new Basel framework for capital adequacy. Our aim has been the gradual and timely adoption of those systems to improve risk assessment, decision making and capital savings and, therefore, to enhance capabilities for increasing our businesses.
In parallel, we initiated a gradual adjustment to IFRS in the past two years. Full compliance with IFRS will result in better and more transparent reporting of the bank’s accounts and improved comparability that will lead to easier fund attraction. These two points are strongly connected with Piraeus Bank’s strategy to increase market share in Greece, matched by better risk monitoring of its businesses.