Third option is sought for new Piraeus CEO

Piraeus Bank is seeking a way to overcome an impasse over the appointment of a new chief executive officer after another unsuccessful week on this front by possibly considering a third candidate for the post.

According to sources, group president Giorgos Hatzinikolaou is working for the completion of the process in close cooperation with the European Central Bank’s Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) so that a new CEO can be appointed within the year, perhaps even in the course of this week.

Although one of the two shortlisted candidates, Christos Papadopoulos, has not been rejected by the SSM, Kathimerini understands that Hatzinikolaou is exploring other alternatives and that a third person may be appointed so as to wrap up the process as quickly as possible. After all, dozens of candidates have already been examined in recent months, so there is no need to start from zero again.

The other shortlisted candidate, former Piraeus CEO Anthimos Thomopoulos, announced his decision to quit the process following an unexpected intervention by the SSM at last Wednesday’s board meeting, which asked via e-mail for the process to be halted so that the candidates could be more thoroughly scrutinized.

Papadopoulos also reacted, saying there was no impediment to his appointment as CEO. This was the second time the SSM blocked Papadopoulos’s appointment, without rejecting him.