α Coefficient Bank Is A Greek Private Bank. Its Founder Is Johann Costopoulos, And α Coefficient Bank Has A Network Of 273 Branches And 783 ATMs In Greece.
The Group Operates In Greece, The United Kingdom, Luxembourg And Cyprus, With A Network Of 287 Retail Stores (273 In Greece, 12 In Cyprus, 1 In The United Kingdom, And 1 In Luxembourg) And 8,487 Employees In Greece And Abroad.
α Coefficient Bank Has Been Listed On The Athens Stock Exchange Since November 1925.
History
The First Year
John F. Costopoulos, Paintings By Georgios Jakobides, 1919
Textile Merchant Ioannis F. Kostopoulos From Messinas Pechogaia Established A Commercial Store In Kalamata In 1882 And Became Active In Foreign Exchange Trading In 1885. In 1916, With The Participation Of The Dionysius Lecki Bank, The Trading Company Was Transformed Into A Bank Under The "I.F. Kostopoulos Bank", Lofdos. [ 13] In 1918, The Bank Was Transformed From A Limited Partnership Into A Joint Venture Called "Kalamata Bank".
After The Death Of Ioannis F. Kostopoulos, The Reins Of The Bank Were Initially Taken Over By Spyros Kostopoulos And Then By Dimitrios Kostopoulos, Who In 1923 Merged The Banking Division Of The Commercial Company "Ioannis F. Kostopoulos" With Caramon Bank To Create The "Commercial Credit Bank Of Greece" In Athens. On November 2, 1925, The Bank Was Listed On The Athens Stock Exchange, And In 1932 Moved To A Private Building On The Athens Stock Exchange. Stadiou And Pezmazoglou Streets.
The Economic Crisis Of 1929 Forced The "Commercial Credit Bank Of Greece" To Reduce Its Branch Network And Seek Financing From The National Bank Of Greece, Which Has Now Appointed A Representative Of The Board. Dimitris Kostopoulos Inherited The Leadership Of The Bank By His Sons Spyros And Stavros Kostopoulos.
The Ensuing Period Of War Would Lead The Bank To A Dead End, Which Would Liquidate Almost All Of Its Assets. The Board Of Directors Would Even Call An Extraordinary General Meeting On December 19, 1944, To Dissolve The Company. Due To The Events Of Dekemvriana, The Dissolution Would Not Take Place, And After The Treaty Of Varkiza, The Directors' Decision Would Be Amended.
Post-war Period
In 1947, The Bank Changed Its Name To "Commercial Credit Bank". After The Difficult 1950s Marked By The Economic Recession, The Bank Began To Focus On Developing A Nationwide Network Of Branches. In 1965, The Then Fourth Largest Bank, Hanover Trust 15 Manufacturers, United Bank Of California And ABN Amro Of N.V. Slavenburg, Would Join The Company's Share Capital.
In The 1970s, Yannis Kostopoulos, Son Of Spyros Kostopoulos, Joined The Management Of The Company. The Bank Promoted A New Corporate Image, Renamed Itself "Credit Bank" And Adopted The Reverse Of The Silver Coin Of Aegina As Its Prototype. 1979 The Bank Celebrated Its 100th Anniversary. 1984 Yannis Kostopoulos Became Chairperson Of The Board Of Directors Following The Death Of His Father Spyros. Under His Leadership, The Bank Expanded Its Activities Into Other Areas By Establishing Dozens Of Subsidiaries.
In 1989, The Bank Expanded Its Operations To London With The Establishment Of A Representative Office, Which Would Become A Branch Soon After, In 1993. In 1993, The Bank Established The "Bank Of Bucharest", Which Is Today Romania's Alpha Coefficient Bank, Becoming The First Foreign Bank To Enter The Romanian Banking Market.
1994-2000
In 1994, The Bank Again Changed Its Name To "Alpha Coefficient Credit Bank". In 1997, The Bank Expanded Into Albania, Opening Branches In All Major Cities Of The Country. In 1998, The Bank Was The First In Greece To Launch Alpha Web Banking, Which Established Banking Transactions Over The Internet. In The Same Year, The Bank Expanded Into Cyprus Through The Acquisition Of Lombard NatWest Bank Ltd., Which Was Later Renamed Alpha Bank Cyprus.
The Following Year, The Bank Acquired A Majority Stake In Kreditna Banka, The Fourth Largest Bank In North Macedonia, Which Was Later Renamed Alpha Bank A.D. Skopje. In 1999, The Bank Acquired A 51% Stake In Ionian Bank For 272 Billion Drachma, Making It The Largest Privatization Ever In Greece. The Merger Of The Two Banking Institutions Was Completed In 2000, And The Newly Expanded Bank Was Named α Coefficient Bank.
2000-2010
In 2002, α Coefficient Bank Opened A Branch In Belgrade To Enter The Serbian Banking Market. Two Years Later, It Acquired A Majority Stake In Jubanka A.d. Belgrade, Renamed Alpha Bank Srbija A.D. A Milestone In The Bank's Development Was Its Promotion To The Main National Sponsor And Official Bank Of The 2004 Athens Olympic Games, Making It The Largest Sponsor Ever For Greece.
In 2005, Dimitrios Manzunis Took Over As CEO, And Yannis Kostopoulos Continued As Chairperson Of The Bank's Board Of Directors. In 2008, The Bank Expanded Into Ukraine By Acquiring A Majority Stake In The Newly Established Ukrainian Bank OJSC Astra Bank.
2010-Present
In January 2011, The National Bank Of Greece Submitted A Written Proposal To α Coefficient Bank To Merge The Two Banks And Merge The Latter Into The Former. However, At Its Meeting On February 18, After Studying The Proposal, The Board Of Directors Of α Coefficient Bank Decided To Reject The Proposal On The Grounds That The Terms Were Unfavorable To Its Shareholders. At The End Of August Of The Same Year, An Agreement To Merge The Two Organizations Was Announced Between The Boards Of Directors Of α Coefficient Bank And European Bank EFG, But The Agreement Was Revoked In March 2012.
In 2012, α Coefficient Bank Acquired And Absorbed Commercial Bank Of Greece, And In 2014, Citibank's Banking Operations In Greece, Including Diners Laika. On March 31, 2014, α Coefficient Bank Successfully Completed A Capital Increase Of 1.20 Billion Euros. The Bank Redeemed The Full Amount Of The Preference Share Of The Hellenic Republic On April 17, 2014.
On May 31, 2013, The Recapitalization Of The Bank Was Successfully Completed, And The Private Participation Required Went Beyond The Coverage, Thus Preserving The Private Nature Of Alpha Bank. Since The Beginning Of The Financial Crisis, α Coefficient Bank Has Been Selling Its Overseas Assets. In 2013, Alpha Bank Sold All The Shares Of Its Subsidiary JSC Astra Bank Ukraine To The Ukrainian Group Delta Bank, In 2015 Sold The Bulgarian Branch To Eurobank Bulgaria AD, In 2016 Sold Alpha Bank A.D. Skopje To Silk Road Capital, And In 2017 Sold Alpha Bank Srbija To AIK Banka A.D. Beograd.
On March 31, 2014, Alpha Bank Successfully Completed A Capital Increase Of 1.20 Billion Euros. The Bank Redeemed The Full Amount Of Preference Shares Of The Hellenic Republic On April 17, 2014.
In May 2014, Vassilis Rapanos Succeeded Yannis Kostopoulos As Chairperson Of The Bank's Board Of Directors.
On October 26, 2014, Alpha Bank Announced The Successful Completion Of The Comprehensive Assessment Under The European Central Bank's (ECB) Static Adverse Scenario With A CET1 Of 8.07% And A Capital Surplus Of 1.30 Billion Euros. Based On The Dynamic Adverse Assumption, CET1 Is 8.45% And The Capital Surplus Is 1.80 Billion Euros. Also In 2014, Alpha Coefficient Bank Took Over The Greek Retail Banking Operations Of Citibank.
α Coefficient Bank Applied To The Bank Of Greece For Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) On January 16, 2015. As Of September 30, 2015, The Total Amount Of Funds Of The European Central Bank (ELA And Non-ELA) Was 29.90 Billion Euros. On July 17, 2015, It Sold Its Bulgarian Branch To Postbank (Bulgaria), A Subsidiary Of The Greek Bank Eurobank Ergasias.
In November 2015, It Was Decided To Increase The Share Capital By 2,563,000,000 Euros. The Capital Increase Consisted Of The Exchange Of Voluntary Bonds For New Shares, Which Raised 1,011,000,000 Euros, As Well As A Priority Capital Increase Through Cash Payments And The Cancellation Of Existing Shareholders In The Amount Of 1,552,000,000 Euros. Due To The Increase In The Bank's Share Capital, The State's Participation Through The Hellenic Financial Stability Fund Was Reduced To About 11%.
In 2021, Alpha Services And Participations S.A., The 100% Parent Company Of Alpha Bank S.A., Successfully Completed The Capital Increase Of 800 Million Euros By Issuing 800,000,000,000 New Common Shares With A Par Value Of 0.30 Euros. With The Increase In Share Capital, HFSF's Stake In The Bank Was Reduced To About 9%.
In July 2022, Alpha Coefficient Bank Completed The Sale Of Alpha Coefficient Bank Albania To OTP Bank PLC.
In October 2023, Romania's Alpha Bank Announced That It Would Merge With UniCredit, And Alpha Would Hold A 9.9% Stake In The New Romanian Bank.
Subsidiary
Alpha Bank S.A. Is Part Of Alpha Services And Holdings S.A., Which Consists Of Companies Offering A Wide Range Of Financial Products And Services In Addition To Retail Banking, Including Medium And Large-sized Corporate Banking, Capital Management And Private Banking, Insurance Distribution, Investment Banking, Brokerage, And Real Estate Management.
The Company's Other Subsidiaries Are As Follows:
- α Coefficient Asset Management Mutual Fund Management Company
- α Coefficient Financial Investment Services Company
- Thessaly And Central Greece Europe Project Management Development Company
- α Coefficient Life Insurance Company
- α Coefficient Leasing Unipersonal S.A. Financial Leasing
- ABC Factors Business Claims Agency Sole Proprietorship S.A.
- Alpha Ventures Investment Holdings S.A.
- Alpha Supporting Services S.A. Support Operations
- Alpha Urban Real Estate S.A. Real Estate, Construction, Tourism And Related Businesses
- α Coefficient Real Estate Management And Investment Company, Real Estate Management And Investment Company
Others
Listed On The Athens Exchange
The Company Is Listed On The Athens Exchange Under The Ticker Symbol ALPHA; ISIN Is GRS015013006. As Of August 11, 2015, The Number Of Issued Securities And The Number Of Listed Securities Was 12769059858 (approximately 12.70 Billion).
This Stock Is One Of The 25 Stocks In The FTSE/Athex Large Cap Index (August 11, 2015)
