Eurobank announced that for the first time after 16 years – the last time was for the fiscal year 2007 – proposed the distribution of a dividend of 0.933 euros per share, which corresponds to 30% of its net profits of 2023, Fokion Karavias, CEO of Eurobank, said during the bank’s general meeting.
«Eurobank consolidates itself as a regional banking group,» he noted.
«In Greece, our bank has a central role in financing the economy – the large infrastructure projects that are underway, businesses (small, medium and large) and households,» Karavias said, adding that special emphasis is placed on financing and the facilitation of investments, foreign and domestic, private and public.»
«The average investment in our country is 14% of GDP, compared to 21.4% in the eurozone. According to recent calculations, an average growth rate of 2.5% for the next decade, in order to reach the European average in 2033, investments in Greece need to increase by 6.7% per year, in real terms and continuously for the next ten years. We focus on channeling the funds of the Recovery and Resilience Fund into the economy successfully. We are the bank that first requested the majority of the first six installments of the Fund,» he noted.
«We are already participating,» Karavias said «in the financing of 76 investment projects, with a total budget of 5.7 billion euros, making use of resources of 1.5 billion through RRF and 1.1 billion through our own loans.»
«We have achieved,” the bank’s CEO emphasized “the goal of 20% of annual grants in 2023 meeting sustainability criteria, while the corresponding portfolio in Corporate and Investment Banking increased to 2.1 billion euros.»
International activities
«International activities are a key competitive advantage for Eurobank. We have a systemic presence in both of our other main markets, Cyprus and Bulgaria. As required by the Cypriot law, we proceeded with a mandatory public offer for the acquisition of up to 100% of the shares of Hellenic Bank, which is currently underway. In any case, we already have a percentage of 55.5%, so that the public offer can be considered successful. We place special emphasis on the area of asset management. In private banking/wealth management, we adopt sophisticated digital infrastructures and aim to double, within the next few years, the funds under management, which currently amount to approximately 12 billion euros,» he added.
