A great leap eastward
As the National Bank of Greece (NBG) readies to perform an impressive leap eastward, the representatives of big business have expressed their enthusiasm over the move, which they interpret as an indication of Greece adopting a leading role in the banking sector in the Near East. Some have been skeptical, highlighting the possible business risks that such an initiative could pose in the future, while other older, more conservative, market players don’t even realize what’s going on. Things have changed. The capitalist of yore, who was the focus of both admiration and envy, is a dying breed. Today’s banking giants are being managed by people handling money that does not belong to them. Experts agree that NBG CEO Takis Arapoglou is an exceptional manager, and those who applauded NBG’s purchase of a major share of Turkey’s Finansbank have based their optimism on two factors: Arapoglou’s visionary capabilities and the fact that such initiatives have become the norm on the international stage. If the purchase goes ahead as planned, Finansbank CEO Husnu Ozyegin stands to pocket between 2.6 and 4.5 billion euros, plus extra revenues in the future. Skeptics should consider that the practice of denationalizing states is now being spearheaded by business. This practice began many years ago in Greece with commercial shipping and now banks are heading in the same direction. NBG was the first to enter the Balkans after the collapse of the former communist regimes and is now taking its first leap eastward. Many may hasten to detect a political agenda behind NBG’s move into Turkey. But nothing could be further from the truth. Banks are no longer controlled by governments, their capital is not exclusively of domestic origin and so cannot be used as a vehicle for promoting national policies.
