Concerns over Attica Bank appointments
Professors Panayiotis Roumeliotis and Gerasimos Sapountzoglou are the names put forward for the posts of Attica Bank chief executive and chairman, respectively, by the lender’s main stakeholder, the Engineers’ Fund (TSMEDE).
After a strong reaction by the Bank of Greece to the postponement of Attica’s general meeting and delays in the commitments made to supervising authorities, the governing board of Greece’s fifth largest bank convened on Wednesday morning. The selection of the new executives was made in cooperation with the government, which despite pledges to depoliticize the process of bank management selection, is clearly seeking to maintain an active role.
The appointments still require the approval of the central bank, which will examine the candidates closely. Bank sources note that Roumeliotis may have a long presence as minister and as the representative of the country at the International Monetary Fund but has little experience in bank administration, having served as a non-executive vice-chairman at Piraeus Bank.
There are similar concerns about Sapountzoglou, who also has very limited experience in running a bank. His latest stint was at Proton Bank’s governing board before it ended up in resolution.
