Michalis Louis anticipated to be named new CEO of Hellenic Bank

The new era for the Hellenic Bank is anticipated to be cemented on 18 September, during the annual general meeting of the bank's shareholders, when Eurobank, after acquiring the majority of the bank's shares, is preparing to acquire control and determine what will come next for Hellenic Bank.

Eurobank has prepared a list of people to be appointed to the Hellenic Bank Board of Directors of Hellenic with their appointment marking the beginning of the implementation of the strategic plans for the new era of Hellenic Bank under the ownership of Eurobank.

In more detail, according to every indication, the position of new CEO of Hellenic Bank appears to be going to the CEO of Eurobank Cyprus, Michalis Louis.

According to the Convening Notice of the Annual General Meeting of Hellenic Bank Public Company Limited, which was made public recently, the following persons are candidates for the board of directors with the decisions taken in a separate vote:

(a) Michalis Louis (proposed as CEO),

Born in 1962. He holds a BA in Accounting from Ealing College of Higher Education in London and an M.Sc. in Accounting & Finance from the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK. He has also attended banking related courses at INSEAD Business School and London Business School.

He started his career in the banking sector in 1987 at Laiki Bank Group where he held various senior management positions, and positions on the boards of the Group's subsidiary companies.

In the period 1989-1991 he worked at a subsidiary of HSBC in New York, Marine Midland Bank NA, in the Corporate Finance Department. In 2004 / 2006 he assumed the positions of Group General Manager / Executive Director of International Activities, respectively, at Laiki Bank.

In 2007, he joined the Eurobank Group, as CEO of Eurobank Cyprus Ltd. He has been serving as a member of the Group's Executive Board since 2015, as a member of various committees of the Group, and as Chairman and/or member of the boards of directors of various subsidiaries of the Group in Cyprus.

In 2014, he was appointed Head of International Operations and, since 2019, he is the Head of International Operations & Private Banking of the Eurobank Group. He is also Chairman and/or member of the boards of directors of the Group's banking subsidiaries in Serbia, Bulgaria and Luxembourg.

(b) Oliver Bernard Ellingham (proposed as an independent non-executive director)

Born in 1957. Holds BA Honors in Business Studies from Middlesex Polytechnic, UK. Chartered Accountant – Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ACA).

He began his career in 1981 at Ernst & Young in London before moving to Robert Fleming, now JP Morgan (1984-1995). He was Managing Director of Corporate Finance at Charterhouse Bank (1995-1997) before moving to BNP Paribas as Senior Executive of Corporate & Investments / Head of Corporate Finance in Europe (1997-2007).

Since 2007, he has held various non-executive director positions / positions on board committees, including Member of the Board of Directors of Eurobank Cyprus Ltd (2014-2020) and Chairman of the Board of Directors (2020-2023), Chairman of the Risk Committee (2014 -2020) and a member from 2020 onwards, and a member of the Audit Committee (2014-2020), as well as a member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Risk Committee of Eurobank Bulgaria ad, under the name Postbank (2020-2023).

He was also a non-executive director and Chairman of the Risk and Audit Committees of the National Asset Management Agency of Ireland (2013-2023), having been appointed to this position by the Irish Minister for Finance.

(c) Robert Anastassis Kyprianou (proposed as independent non-executive director)

He was born in 1953. He holds an MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

He began his career in 1978 in various positions at BP PLC (London and USA) before moving to Citibank Asset Management in London as Vice President / Senior Director of Portfolio Management (1987-1990), and then to Salomon Brothers Asset Management in London as Head of Investments (1990-1994), and at ABN AMRO Asset Management in London as Head of Fixed Income (1995-1999).

He joined AXA Investment Managers in 1999 as Global Head of Fixed Income and was subsequently promoted to Global Head of Securities Investment Management. Promoted to Deputy Chief Executive Officer worldwide of AXA Investment Managers.

In 2005, having led the acquisition of the Framlington Group by AXA Investment Managers, he was asked to lead the rebranded AXA Framlington Investment Managers as Chief Executive Officer, until his retirement from full-time executive work in 2009.

Since 2010, he has held various non-executive director/board committee positions, including member of the Board of Directors of Eurobank Cyprus Ltd (2012-2014 and 2020-2023) and Chairman of the Board of Directors (2014-2020), member of Audit and Risk Committees, as well as a member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Risk Committee of Eurobank Private Bank Luxembourg SA (2022-2023).

He also served as independent Chairman of the Board of Directors of Polar Capital Global Financials Trust PLC (2013-2023) and as a member of the Board of Directors of NIPD Genetics Ltd, a biotechnology company based in Cyprus (2014-2018). He is a Senior Independent Director and member of the Audit and Risk Committees of PIMCO Europe Ltd based in London, having been appointed in April 2014.

(d) Charalambos Constantinou (proposed as an independent non-executive director)

Born in 1974. He holds a BA (B.Sc. Honors) in Economics from the University of Cyprus, an MSc (M.Sc.) in Economics & Finance from the University of Warwick in the UK, and a Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.

He started his career as a Listing Officer at the Cyprus Stock Exchange (1998-2000) and, after his PhD, worked as a Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom (2003-2005). From 2005 to 2009 he served as Vice President of Duff & Phelps (formerly Standard & Poor's Corporate Valuation Consulting), a multinational financial consulting firm based in New York, leading valuation projects for some of the world's largest companies.

In 2010 he joined Ernst & Young Greece and, in 2015, moved to Ernst & Young Cyprus to set up and lead as a Partner the Advisory Services sector of the said Big Four Audit Firm, leaving in June 2021 to work for a year as an independent consultant, head of the Program Management Office and the Transformation Program of a banking institution in Cyprus.

From September 2022, he is Vice President, Head of the Transformation Office of Pharmathen S.A., responsible for leading and promoting organizational change initiatives to achieve the strategic goals and ensure the long-term success of the pharmaceutical company in question.

Visiting / Assistant Lecturer in various academic institutions teaching MBA programs. and M.Sc.: Financial Management, Management Accounting, Portfolio Management, Commercial Banking, Analysis of Financial Statements, Economics (2005-2022). Member of the Advisory Board of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (2017-2021).

(e) Maria Charalambous (proposed as an independent non-executive director),

She was born in 1958. She graduated from the English School in Nicosia and studied Economics (BA Honours) at the University of Essex in the United Kingdom. Chartered Accountant – Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ACA since 1985 and FCA since 2000). She holds a master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the Cyprus Institute of Management.

She worked as a Chartered Accountant at BDO Cyprus, from 1985 to 1988. She joined the Cyprus Electricity Authority in 1988 as an Assistant Accountant and was promoted to Finance Director in 2012 and to Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in 2017, a position she held until her retirement. in July 2023. In addition, in July 2016, she was appointed as administrator of the Cyprus Electricity Authority Employees' Pension Fund, a fund with total assets of over €0.5 billion.

(f) Sofronis Clerides (proposed as an independent non-executive director)

Born in 1968. Studied Economics & Mathematics (BA Honours) at the University of Wisconsin in the United States. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University in the United States.

He is currently a professor at the Department of Economics at the University of Cyprus and Dean of the School of Economics and Management at the University of Cyprus from December 2021. His research interests include industrial organization (pricing, price discrimination, information intermediation, consumer behavior, banking competition), international trade (exports and productivity, international trade in used goods), and environmental and energy economics (environmental policies in car markets).

His previous academic positions included Chair of the Department of Economics at the University of Cyprus (2016-2021), Member of the Senate of the University of Cyprus (2017-2021, 2011-2013), Associate Professor at the University of Cyprus (2009-2016), Visiting Associate Professor at Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service in Qatar, Fall 2014, Associate Dean of the School of Economics and Management, University of Cyprus (2012-2014), Visiting Scholar, Northwestern University (2009-2010), Assistant Professor, University of Cyprus (2003-2009), Visiting Lecturer, Yale University (2002-2003), Lecturer, University of Cyprus (1998-2003), Researcher, World Bank (summers 1995 and 1996), etc.

He had extensive public service in coordinating committees / working groups and in the National Economic Council of Cyprus.

He was an independent non-executive director of LCP Holdings and Investments Public Ltd, a public company listed on the Cyprus Stock Exchange (2014-2023), and of the Cyprus Investment Services Company CISCO (2015-2023).

(g) Kenneth Howard Prince-Wright (proposed as an independent non-executive director).

Born 1956. Chartered Accountant – Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (FCA). Member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (Capital Markets Programme, 2014).

He began his career in 1976 at Roth & Co Chartered Accountants before moving to Mobil Oil Corporation (1982-1987) as Senior Corporate Controller / Director of General Accounting, and subsequently to Pepsi-Cola International as Controller / Director of Planning and New Business Development (1987-1989). During the period 1990-1999, he held various senior management roles in Diageo PLC group companies (Vice President of Finance and Business Support, Group Audit Director, Finance Director, Chief Financial Officer).

He then co-founded and became Chief Executive Officer of EggsBenefit.com Ltd, an online supply chain solution for the catering industry. In 2001, he joined The Spirit Group, United Kingdom as Chief Financial Officer until 2002 when he was appointed Chief Financial Officer of S.A. Titan Cement, a large multi-regional cement producer listed on the Athens Stock Exchange.

In 2008, he joined Saxo Bank A/S, a private global investment bank, as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, and in 2009 he was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Antenna Group, one of the largest multinational private media groups in Greece. From 2012-2017, he was a partner at Belsize Capital Partners LLP, which brings opportunities to market for investors to participate in value-creating projects in the construction materials industry.

Since 2015, he has been the Managing Director of Basil Capital Ltd, a consultancy specializing in advising and networking among investment firms.

Since 2013, he has held various non-executive director positions, including member of the Board of Directors of Eurobank S.A. (2013-2017) and other subsidiaries of the Eurobank group, appointed by the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund.

He was also a non-executive member of the Board of Directors of the Athens Stock Exchange-listed Trastor Real Estate Investment Company (2019-2021) and of Hellenic Petroleum Finance PLC and other group companies (2017-2023), as well as Director / Treasurer of of the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Greece (2012-2017).

His current non-executive board positions include the International Make-a-Wish Foundation (since 2017), the companies CNP Hellas, Copernicus S.A. and Copernicus Greece (since 2020) and Green Beverages Group PLC (since 2022, Chairman).

In addition, Stephen Joh Albutt (as an independent non-executive director) is proposed for re-election.

It is recalled that in view of the annual general meeting of the Hellenic Bank, Christos Themistocleous, John Gregory Iossifidis, Marios Maratheftis, Marco Comastri, Andreas Persianis, Demetrios Efstathiou and Christodoulos Hadjistavris have either resigned or declared that they will not seek re-election to the Bank's board of directors.

The agenda

The 50th annual general meeting of Hellenic Bank will take place on Wednesday, September 18, 2024 at 11:00 am.

The agenda includes the following:

1. Study and approval of the management report for the year ended December 31, 2023.
2. Study and approval of the financial statements and the auditors' report for the year ended December 31, 2023.
3. Approval of the remuneration policy report for the year 2023 and determination of the remuneration of the board members.
4. Re-appointment of auditors and authorization of the board of directors to determine their remuneration.
5. Election of the Board of Directors.

(Source: InBusinessNews)