In line with the 2007-2009 Business Plan for the NBG Group, which calls for enhancing business and functional integration within the Group in order to capture synergies, a meeting of the heads of the foreign bank subsidiaries in SEE and Turkey, the Group General Managers and the members of the Group Executive Committee was held in Athens on the 13th of February. Present were Mr. Maragoudakis, head of Romania, Mr. Vatev (Bulgaria), Mr. Stratopoulos (Serbia), Mr. Bishev (FYROM), Mr. Leivaditis (Albania) and Messrs O. Aras and S. Sahinbas (Turkey).
The aim of the meeting was to present and analyze the new operational structure of the Group which includes among others the following main points:
a. The complete centralization in Athens of Group Internal Audit, Group Finance, Group Liquidity, and Group Information Technology. All heads of these functions in the bank's foreign subsidiaries report directly to the respective Corporate Center in Athens.
b. Partial centralization to the Corporate Center in Athens of Risk Management, Human Resources, Legal Services and Compliance, Back Office and Procurement. In all of these functions the Corporate Center sets the operational framework and supervises country heads as to proper execution.
c. Country heads have the exclusive responsibility of delivering the business plan and assume the additional responsibility of facilitating the integration targets.
d. Responsible for the functional integration of the Group's subsidiaries is Mr. A. Thomopoulos, CFO/COO and member of the Group Executive Committee.
e. Recognizing the increased significance of the Group's International Activities, the country heads for SEE and Turkey will report to a Group Executive Committee member. This responsibility is given to Mr. O. Aras, who will be assisted by Mr. A. Leopoulos, GM International.
f. Two new central support units will be created at the Corporate Center in Athens:
1. International Retail: This unit will provide retail product know-how across all retail banking divisions of the Group?s foreign subsidiaries in coordination with the respective country managers.
2. International Corporate: This unit will focus on supporting the cross-border business of the Group?s corporate customers.
The above decisions will accelerate the integration process and increase the operating efficiency of the Group.