Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with the Group Chief Executive Officer of Unicredit Andrea Orcel and the Chief Executive Officer of Alpha Bank Vassilios Psaltis, at Maximos Mansion.
At the beginning of the meeting, the Prime Minister noted: “Welcome and congratulations. I am very happy with your decision to significantly increase your stake in Alpha Bank. I’ve always been of the opinion that Europe needs stronger and more competitive banks. In this vein, any cross-border partnership should be to the benefit not only of the shareholders, but also of all the involved banks.
I think you’re obviously seeing considerable upside as far as the Greek banking sector is concerned, and you’re also increasing your stake at a time when both the Greek and the Italian economy seem to be doing much better than many people thought. It’s an interesting partnership of southern countries that may have surprised some of our friends, some of our northern friends in terms of our financial performance.
I’m also very interested to discuss new opportunities, new products, and how Alpha Bank can contribute more towards really funding the growth of the Greek economy by using your expertise and your balance sheet. I’m sure there’s a lot of interesting things that we can do together. Again, very happy about your decision and congratulations”.
On his part, the Group Chief Executive Officer of Unicredit Andrea Orcel said: “Thank you, Prime Minister. I’m very very happy for the investment. We started together. The second step is a demonstration that the partnership with Alpha is working very well. I think the expectations we had when we started in terms of what we could do together were much lower than what we have achieved in less than a year. There is a lot more that we’re discussing now.
Actually, with the leadership of Alpha, we’re discussing about how we’re combining, for example, our social programmes together with doing more business, but also supporting communities in a broader way now that banks are stronger. I think we’re benefiting a lot from the connection to Greece and Greece is benefiting a lot in its connection with the 13 countries that we have. We’re very aligned, very happy, and I’m very happy to be exposed to the growth and the opportunities of this country”.
The Chief Executive Officer of Alpha Bank Vassilios Psaltis stated: “The Alpha Bank-UniCredit partnership, the first of its kind in Greece since the economic crisis, is a tangible expression of confidence in the future of our country and firmly places Greece at the heart of a stronger and more integrated European Banking Union. The expansion of this partnership not only creates new opportunities for Greek businesses, giving them access to the wider European market, but also brings UniCredit’s valuable experience in developing products that promote innovation and support sustainable development closer to the citizens of our country.
During the meeting, the Chief Executive Officer of Alpha Bank presented initiatives undertaken by the bank in response to government incentives and policies aimed at making housing affordable and stimulating financing for the real economy.
With regard to housing, it was noted that Alpha Bank is preparing a special study, which will be submitted to the government, with the aim of highlighting policy proposals to boost supply and facilitate citizens’ efforts to purchase homes.
It was also stressed that Alpha Bank places particular emphasis on financial inclusion, with solutions that contribute to better access to financial services in underserved or remote areas of the country, an area where the bank’s cooperation with ELTA is expected to contribute.
The meeting was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister Kostis Hatzidakis and Minister of Economy and Finance Kyriakos Pierrakakis.
