HFSF demands changes at National, Piraeus

The boards of banks National and Piraeus require some significant changes to align themselves with recent legislation regarding their members, while those at Eurobank and Alpha only need a few adjustments, Kathimerini understands.

The assessment of the composition of the banks’ boards, conducted by Spencer Stuart for the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF), was delivered to the country’s systemic lenders in conjunction with plans for tackling nonperforming loans.

Sources say that Eurobank and Alpha were found to have the most developed corporate governance structures and for that reason the HFSF-commissioned report only proposed some minor improvements.

In contrast, bigger interventions were deemed necessary at National, whose president, Louka Katseli, does not fulfill all of the law’s requirements, and Piraeus, which is already making progress in changes to its governing board.

The assessment report was handed to banks a few days after the forced resignation of the HFSF executives, which has led to speculation about the changes at the bank boards. It appears that among the reasons that led to the sacking of the HFSF administration were banks’ poor results as regards managing nonperforming loans and the reluctance of the HFSF to take a more active role in that direction.

In any case, the situation concerning NPLs is becoming serious for the lenders, as their failure to implement their commitments to the European Central Bank’s Single Supervisory Mechanism could incur critical consequences for them.