The Board of Directors of Hellenic Exchanges – Athens Stock Exchange (ATHEX), at its meeting today, elected Mr. Yianos Kontopoulos as the new Chief Executive Officer.

During his long professional career, Mr. Kontopoulos has worked in senior capital market management positions in New York, London and Athens. He began his career at Salomon Brothers on Wall Street. He was also Managing Directos at two of the largest international investment banks, UBS and Merrill Lynch. In Greece, he worked as Chief Investment Officer at Eurobank, as well as Chief Executive Officer of Eurobank Asset Management, the largest mutual fund management company in the country. He has also worked in key positions at hedge funds abroad.

Mr. Kontopoulos is a graduate of Columbia and Harvard Universities in the United States.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors George Handjinikolaou stated, in welcoming Mr. Kontopoulos on behalf of the Board of Directors: “The Board of Directors, and I personally, welcome Mr. Kontopoulos to the leadership of the Athens Exchange. Yianos' substantial international experience and knowledge in the financial markets will contribute significantly to the further development of the Exchange. At the same time, I especially wish to thank Mr. Socrates Lazaridis for his valuable, substantial and long-term contribution to the promotion of the Exchange as a competitive and equal interlocutor with the international markets."

After officially assuming his duties, the new CEO of ATHEX, Yianos Kontopoulos, stated: "I thank the Board for its trust. I am delighted to take up my duties at ATHEX. The Group is strategically positioned in the business world and at this point I must mention the important work carried out by my predecessor, Mr. Socrates Lazaridis during his tenure. The Group has talented staff and I look forward to our collaboration. Together, I hope that we will continue the systematic effort to make our market more extrovert and strengthen its role in servicing the domestic economy, with flexibility as required in the current complex global environment."