Piraeus Bank: 2023 Financial Calendar
Piraeus Financial Holdings S.A. (the “Company”), in order to provide accurate information to investors and in compliance with the requirement under the articles 4.1.2 and 4.1.3.15.1 of the Athens Exchange Rulebook, announces its Financial Calendar for year 2023.
Friday, 24 February 2023
Announcement of the FY.2022 Financial Results and analysts briefing
Friday, 05 May 2023
Announcement of the 1Q.2023 Financial Results and analysts briefing
Monday, 31 July 2023
Announcement of the 1H.2023 Financial Results and analysts briefing
Friday, 03 November 2023
Announcement of the 9M.2023 Financial Results and analysts briefing
The date of the Ordinary General Meeting of shareholders of the Company will be specified with a later announcement.
The publication of the financial results is made on the Athens Exchange website (www.athegroup.gr) and on the Company’s website (www.piraeusholdings.gr).
Piraeus Financial Holdings S.A. reserves the right to change the aforementioned dates, following relevant timely information of the public.
Piraeus Bank: Earnings Per Share of €0.21 in H1.22
H1 2022 key takeaways
• EPS normalized of €0.21, of which €0.16 from core banking activities, vs. €0.10 in H1.21. Normalized operating profit at €285mn in H1.22 vs €126mn a year ago, on the back of strong net fee income growth, cost containment and significant de-escalation of impairments
• NPE ratio to 9%, from 25% a year ago; Sunrise 3 and Solar NPE loan securitizations amounting to €0.9bn GBV, whose budgeted losses have already been booked, are in advanced state and are expected to be concluded by year-end 2022, while the respective applications for inclusion to HAPS have been submitted
• €0.4bn negative NPE formation in H1.22, historical best performance
• €1.5bn net performing loan book growth, already beating annual target, driven by solid new loan origination of €4.4bn; loan yields remain resilient
• RoaTBV of 10% on a normalized basis, sustained enhanced returns for the rest of the year
• CET1 fully loaded at 10.2%, ahead of year-end target, with all 2022 NPE clean-up fully absorbed
• Synthetic securitization program for 2022 amounting to €1.1bn RWA relief, in three already signed transactions; first transaction of €0.4bn RWA relief was concluded in Q2; program to be enhanced with an extra €0.5bn RWA relief this year
H1 2022 financial highlights
• Net interest income, excluding income from NPEs, reached €512mn, up 3% yoy
• Solid net fee income generation at €237mn (including rental income), +22% yoy, with strong dynamics in all fee generating areas of the business and predominantly from loan origination
• Recurring operating expenses at €408mn, -4% yoy, benefiting from staff costs rationalization and G&A costs optimization
• Organic loan impairment at €151mn, -40% yoy
Full Year 2022 revised forecasts
• EPS normalized to c.€0.35 from €0.05 previously
• FL CET1 to c.11% from c.10% previously
• Net performing loan book growth to above €2.0bn from c.€1.2bn previously
• NPE ratio to c.8% from c.9% previously
• RoaTBV normalized to c.8% from c.1% previously
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Piraeus Bank announces agreements on synthetic securitizations of performing loans in Greece
Piraeus Bank announces agreements on synthetic securitizations of performing loans in GreecePiraeus Financial Holdings S.A. announces that its subsidiary, Piraeus Bank S.A. (“Bank”), has entered into binding agreements for three synthetic securitizations of performing loans in Greece, comprising mortgage, corporate/SME and other exposures (together the “Transactions”).
In the context of the Transactions, Piraeus Bank will purchase credit protection under a financial guarantee. The underlying loan portfolios have an aggregate gross book value of c.€2.7bn and will remain on the balance sheet of the Bank.
The Transactions are part of Piraeus’ Business Plan, as announced on 6 April 2022; they are subject to customary approvals and are expected to be completed within the current calendar year.
As a result of the Transactions, the Bank is expected to reduce its risk weighted assets by c.€1.1bn and thus enhance its capital position by c.50bps following respective significant risk transfer approvals from the regulatory authorities, consistent with information already disclosed on 12 May 2022.
Piraeus Bank and Euronet Worldwide initiate their strategic cooperation in merchant acquiring services
Piraeus Bank, a subsidiary of Piraeus Financial Holdings S.A., successfully completed the spin-off of merchant acquring services to a new company and its subsequent sale to Euronet Worldwide Inc (the Transaction).
The two parties had signed the relevant binding agreement on 16.03.2021, pursuant to which Euronet Worldwide would provide merchant acquiring services to Piraeus Bank’s customers.
Within the framework of this agreement, Piraeus Bank and Euronet Worldwide start a new long-term strategic cooperation with respect to merchant acquiring, as well as the sale and distribution of relevant products and services.
The total consideration of the Transaction amounted at €300 million. The capital impact of the Transaction resulted in a benefit of approximately 100 basis points over the total capital ratio of Piraeus Financial Holdings Group, which -based on 31 December 2021 figures- stood at 15.8%.
The parties will provide significant value to existing and future customers in Greece, utilizing the technological capabilities and the leading know-how of an international payment provider such as Euronet Worldwide, which ensure state of the art products and services in the field of merchant acquiring. Piraeus Bank and Euronet Worldwide had an already established cooperation since 2000 in card processing services.
Referring to this new strategic partnership, Christos Megalou, Chief Executive Officer of Piraeus Financial Holdings stated: “Piraeus Bank continues to pioneer, with the clear aim of providing a high level banking experience and service, strengthening the momentum of the Greek banking market. Knowing that the European payment framework is changing rapidly, we are confident that Euronet Worldwide is the appropriate long-term strategic partner of Piraeus Bank for the servicing of our customers in the new digital era, as well as the joint promotion of new and innovative products and services.”
Michael J. Brown, CEO of Euronet Worldwide stated “The new Piraeus-Euronet alliance starts today! With our long-term partner Piraeus Bank, we join forces and plan to substantially develop the digital payments sector, such that each of our customers can benefit from innovative products and services, enhanced customer experience, as well as access to Euronet’s international networks and technological infrastructure. ”
UBS AG London Branch acted as the exclusive financial advisor of Piraeus Bank in the Transaction. PricewaterhouseCoopers Business Solutions SA acted as technical consultant for Piraeus Bank. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP and the law firm Lambadarios acted respectively as international and local legal advisors to Piraeus Bank.
Completion of the sale of shipping NPE portfolio amounting to €0.4bn gross book value (Project Dory)
Further to the announcement on 04 January 2022, Piraeus Financial Holdings S.A. has informed the investment community that its subsidiary Piraeus Bank S.A. has completed the sale of the shipping non-performing exposures (NPE) portfolio, “Project Dory”, amounting to €0.4bn gross book value (“The Transaction”), to an entity affiliated with Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP. The total agreed consideration of the Transaction reached €0.2bn, or 53% of the portfolio gross book value.
The Transaction was completed after receiving all the required approvals, as well as the consent of the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund.
Piraeus Bank acquires a controlling stake in Trastor Real Estate Investment Company
Piraeus Financial Holdings announced that its subsidiary Piraeus Bank S.A. (“Piraeus Bank” or the “Bank”) has reached an agreement with WRED LLC (“WRED”), a company affiliated with Värde Partners, for the acquisition of WRED’s c.52% stake in Trastor Real Estate Investment Company S.A. (“Trastor”) (the “Transaction”).
The agreed cash consideration of the Transaction will reach approximately €98mn (€1.25 per share).
The Transaction is subject to ordinary conditions precedent including the consent of the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund.
Trastor was established in 1999, and was the first company to be granted license to operate as a Real Estate Investment Company in Greece in 2003. It is among the top players in the Greek real estate market in terms of gross asset value (c.€0.3bn) and rental revenues (c.€14mn) as at full year 2020. Trastor’s largest shareholder is WRED, which owns c.52% of the company’s shares, Piraeus Bank is the second largest shareholder with c.45% participation whilst the remainder c. 3% of shares are free floating on the Athens Stock Exchange.
The Transaction underpins Piraeus Bank’s strategy for accretive return-on-capital actions and entails the following key benefits for the Bank:
immediate enhancement of the fee generating pools of the Bank, with further upside potential,capture of the favorable dynamics that are increasingly evident in the Greek real estate market, especially in the high-growth segments of prime office and logistic spaces where Trastor is mainly focused,strengthening of Piraeus’ capabilities with one of the most effective real estate platforms in Greece, adding value to our proposition to stakeholders.The expected capital impact of the Transaction over the 30 September 2021 total capital ratio of Piraeus Financial Holdings S.A. will be practically neutral.
Completion of the Transaction will trigger a mandatory tender offer by the Bank for the remaining c.3% free floating Trastor shares in accordance with applicable takeover law provisions.
In relation to the Transaction, Mr. Christos Megalou, CEO of Piraeus Bank, stated:
“This transaction will instantly enhance our fee revenue profile and further grow our know how around the vibrant and rapidly growing real estate sector. Trastor is one of the top-performing real estate platforms in South Eastern Europe and will constitute an investment tool for Piraeus Group to capture the extensive upside that the Greek market provides. This is yet another value booster for our shareholders, in our journey to create the best-in-class bank in Greece.”
“Over the last five years we have significantly increased the size and quality of the company’s real estate portfolio, successfully acquiring more than 40 high quality assets, divesting non-core properties and upgrading existing sites,” said Tony Iannazzo, Senior Managing Director at Värde Partners. “We have had an excellent partnership with Piraeus over these years and believe the company is well-positioned to capitalize on the economic recovery as Greece emerges from the pandemic.”
Piraeus Bank agrees on the management of selected non-core equity participations by Blantyre Capital
Piraeus Financial Holding’s subsidiary, Piraeus Bank (the “Bank”), has entered into a long-term partnership with affiliates of Blantyre Capital Limited (“Blantyre Capital”) for the management of non-core equity participations owned by the Bank for an initial period of 10 years (the “Transaction”).
The portfolio under management, with an initial perimeter of €0.2bn, comprises certain equity interests that are unrelated to the financial sector in general and specifically to the Bank’s principal activity.
The Transaction will allow Piraeus Bank to optimize the value of its non-core equity participations by bringing such participations under specialized outsourced professional asset management overseen by affiliates of Blantyre Capital.
The capital benefit of the Transaction is estimated at circa 0.7 percentage points over the 30 September 2021 total capital ratio of Piraeus Group.
Houlihan Lokey and Octane acted as exclusive financial advisors and commercial advisors, respectively. Eversheds Sutherland & AB Law were the international and local legal counsels of Piraeus Bank, respectively.
Proskauer Rose and Dillon Eustace acted as the International and Irish legal counsel of Blantyre Capital, respectively.
Piraeus Bank Embarks on a Three-Year Transformation Journey to Cloud with Accenture and Microsoft
Piraeus Bank is collaborating with Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and Microsoft (NYSE: MSFT) to accelerate its digital transformation, leveraging a cloud-first approach. The shared ambition of this initiative is to enhance Piraeus Bank’s position as a next-generation finance institution, powered by cutting-edge cloud technology, to deliver a superior banking experience to its stakeholders.
Migrating its technology infrastructure to the cloud will serve as a catalyst for innovation, providing far more robust, innovative, secure, and compliant banking capabilities. With cloud, Piraeus Bank expects to increase its overall operational efficiency and agility, launch new products and services more quickly, enhance customer service, lower information technology costs, and contribute to its broader sustainability efforts by reducing its carbon footprint.
As part of the initiative, Accenture will work with Piraeus Bank to devise and execute its strategic cloud migration, and help the company develop and introduce new cloud-based services. Microsoft will serve as the cloud provider and design authority, leveraging its Azure platform and providing quality assurance throughout the migration process.
“Working with Accenture and Microsoft — two technology and cloud leaders — will help position Piraeus as one of the most digitally advanced banks in Greece, enabling us to provide customers the highest level of service while increasing our operational efficiency,” said Dimitris Mavrogiannis, Piraeus Bank’s Group Chief Operating Officer (COO). “Our aspiration is to follow a cloud-first strategy and have most of our technology infrastructure on the cloud, minimizing the need for a physical data center and promoting our ESG agenda.”
George Pallioudis, managing director in Accenture’s Banking industry group in Greece and account lead for Piraeus Bank, said, “Piraeus Bank understands that competing in today’s rapidly evolving market requires making cloud the foundation of its operational infrastructure. Working together with Microsoft, we will help Piraeus Bank in its transformation to become a cloud-first organization, marking one of the first and largest cloud migrations in the Greek financial services market.”
Yanna Andronopoulou, the Enterprise Commercial Sales Director for Greece Cyprus Malta at Microsoft, stated, “Piraeus Bank is proceeding with its transformation, setting a new benchmark for the banking sector. Our partnership will lead to a cloud-based operating model in order for the bank to offer outstanding personalized, friction-less banking experiences to its customers. In the coming years, as we progress this work, we are committed to addressing the bank’s uprising needs and further evolving the operating model of Piraeus Bank, leveraging our cloud infrastructure, innovation and skilling initiatives in order to fully harness the power of technology.”
Piraeus Bank donates €1.5mn to support actions for the sustainable restoration of the damages incurred by the recent wildfires in Greece – Establishment of an Agricultural Observatory in Northern Evia of Greece
Piraeus Bank stands by all the households and businesses that have incurred damages from the recent devastating wildfires. The Bank is closely monitoring the restoration progress for the damaged areas and is ready to contribute alongside the Greek State to the planning and implementation of substantial actions across all levels.
As per the UN Principles for Responsible Banking, that Piraeus helped create along with 29 other banks worldwide to guide the banking industry toward a sustainable future, the Bank is initially increasing its sponsorship programme by €1.5 mn, in order to support reforestation and restoration of fire-inflicted areas. At the same time, Piraeus is supporting major initiatives aimed at the restructuring of the agricultural economy and the reopening of businesses hit by the fires. The Bank is also proceeding with the establishment of an Agricultural Observatory in Northern Evia.
In the forthcoming period, Piraeus will proceed with additional actions aimed at the following:
1. Participation in the restoration programme planned by the Greek State for the fire-inflicted areas, by taking specific actions for infrastructure and transition of local economies to a sustainable growth
2. Products and services specially designed for the protection of the environment and for addressing climate change
3. Immediate actions to restore and ensure the sustainability of agrifood businesses hit by the fires
4. Provision of clothing and school supplies to schoolchildren in the fire-inflicted areas ahead of the new school year
5. Scholarships for students from the affected areas to cover accommodation and transportation costs ahead of the new academic year.
The aforementioned initiatives follow the measures that were already announced on August 10, 2021, by the Hellenic Bank Association, which Piraeus Bank has immediately executed, regarding the suspension of loan payments and a six-months suspensions of any enforcement proceedings for businesses and households hit by the fires.
Piraeus Bank’s employees, who in the past have supported many social initiatives, will also actively participate in this endeavor.
This comprehensive action plan, with a two-pronged objective, on the one hand to restore nature and on the other hand to tackle climate change, will soon be presented by Piraeus Bank in the context of its corporate responsibility and its overall ESG (Environment-Society-Governance) strategy.
International Distinctions for Piraeus Bank Custody & Securities Services
Two prestigious international awards were granted to Piraeus Bank Custody & Securities Services by Global Custodian Magazine, as voted by international clients participating in the Agent Banks Emerging Markets Survey, annually conducted by Global Custodian, the leading publication in the international custody & securities services arena. In specific, Piraeus Bank was named ‘Best in Survey in Europe-Emerging Markets’ in the categories Asset Servicing and Risk Management.
Piraeus Bank is repeatedly distinguished amongst highly reputable banks and Custody & Securities Services Divisions are awarded year after year, as a recognition of their long lasting and trustful relationships with international institutional investors.