“We want to lead the market. We want to compare ourselves with European banks,” said the executive director of Piraeus Bank yesterday Christ Megalo, introducing the bank’s new corporate identity that reflects the future and the new era.
In fact, a few days ago his management Piraeus upgraded 2024 targets to net profit to €1 billion (from €900 million) and net interest income to €2 billion (from €1.9 billion).
Yesterday, Mr. Megalu referred to the past 7 years of the bank, noting that. When we introduced the program”Agenda 2020“There was a lot of skepticism. If we succeeded, then we had 52 percent “red” loans. Today we are at the best point of the last years and we are one of the most efficient banks in Europe, because we want to compare with them. We want “let’s catch» the numbers we promised the market to have a net profit of 1 billion euros this year. And of course to finance the economy.
In response to the question about the market value of the bank’s securities, Mr. Megalu answered: I think it has to follow the value we’ve created and what we’ve achieved so far, so we still have a little way to go. As Christos Megalu, I think we should be a one-time book (tangible accounting value), he said.
He referred to the confidence of investors in Piraeus, noted that the bank fulfills what it promises, and clarified: we provide detailed information to investors and based on the data and results they compare us with the big European banks because of how honest you are. are and give the right numbers that the market will see and recognize you.
We want to lead the market and it will be seen from our capitalization, I think the market value should not be 0.70-0.75 of the book value, but closer to 1.
He also said that the approval by the watchdog of dividend payments is evidence that Greek banks are back to normal.
The motto of Piraeus
This is the slogan of the advertising campaign, which focuses on business support, both in the agricultural sector and in the digital sector.dressed up” with a musical theme created especially for the bank Nikos Portokaloglouwhile the design was carried out by Barcelona-based company Moutso.
We started designing a new corporate identity from November 2022, we wanted to look to the future. We exist and aim to be more than a bank, Mr. Megalu said.
And in turn, the head of retail trade Mr. Vasilis Koutentakis to show that we are a bank with less bureaucracy and more flexibility. Today, 98% of transactions are done electronically, but we recognize the value that a store can offer, especially in customer advice.
Snappi, investment, digital, loans, recovery fund
Mr. Megalu avoided giving information about its opening digital bank Snappy, which is expected to receive a license from the Central Bank by the end of June, emphasizing, however. the market is changing to digital. And we will be present, we want to change our image of young people, get closer to the new generation. Embrace digital and Snappi development”we can do something in Europe”, underlining the great potential for the development of Piraeus’ activities at all levels.
In fact, as he said, Piraeus invests 150 million euros per year in the digitalization of all its services and will invest 450 million euros in the three years 2024-2026.
Regarding investment attraction, he emphasized that. Greece has a lot of room for growth, “I am optimistic,” Mr. Megalou said, but we have to face bureaucratic difficulties.
In terms of financing, Mr. Megalou noted that Piraeus is the market leader in the field of large business loans, while supporting small and medium-sized enterprises.
As Mr. Juros Of the 17 billion euros in loans from the recovery fund, banks have signed contracts for 5 billion euros, Piraeus’ absorption capacity of about 1.4 to 1.5 billion euros, and he added that 50% of the 92 financing requests were for small ones. and average investment projects over 100 million euros.
For housing loans Mr. Megalou announced that the market share of Piraeus in “My Home” program is 35% and stated: The housing market concerns us, and we have done various exercises, because we have the following paradox, when the market rises, we do not see the willingness of customers to take a loan. On the contrary, there is a backlash for programs implemented with state support.
