New bank association leadership to raise its profile

Lenders are upgrading the role of the Hellenic Bank Association (HBA), with the aim of turning it into an active voice that will intervene dynamically in issues concerning not only the credit sector but also the economy in general.

Now headed by Eurobank chairman Nikolaos Karamouzis, the HBA aspires to reinvigorate relations and contacts with social partners (i.e. industrialists, tourism entrepreneurs, shipowners, workers’ unions etc), ministries, the Bank of Greece, the capital market and so on.

To this end, the HBA has already scheduled a number of private meetings that will mark the upgrading of the association’s role. Contacts will also include various entities, policymakers, institutional and economic figures abroad, with the aim of presenting the fiscal achievements of recent years and the state of the country’s credit sector.

The HBA hopes to raise its profile as regards key banking matters, such as nonperforming loans, the efficient financing of enterprises etc. This includes the creation of a Nonperforming Loan Management Forum, which will be headed by Piraeus Bank general manager Spyros Papaspyrou.