By A. Doga
A compromise appeared overnight in the impasse in terms of the appointments of new board members for the non-systemic Attica Bank, with government officials pointing to a “reshuffle” of proposed candidates in order to gain the Bank of Greece’s approval.
Specifically, long-time political veteran and former Greek representative to the IMF Panayiotis Roumeliotis will be proposed for the position of non-executive president of the bank, while Theodoros Pantalakis has appeared as the candidate for CEO.
Roumeliotis' appointment as CEO was overruled by the BoG, while the political opposition referred to a "political appointment" by the leftist Greek government.
The previous candidates, submitted by the engineers’ pension fund (TSMEDE) were rejected by a relevant Bank of Greece (BoG) committee, which cited a lack of sufficient qualifications for the specific board of directors’ positions.
Although Attica Bank is not subject to direct supervision by the SSM, which exercises direct oversight on Greece’s four systemic banks, the ECB-affiliated entity nevertheless exerts a heavy influence over the entire Greek banking system, and by extension, Attica Bank. The SSM’s audit, in fact, will be used as the template for a thorough restructuring of the lender.
The BoG's temporary prohibition against Attica Bank extending new loans was also seen this week as a severe rebuke to the Athens-based credit institution.
Η recapitalization of Attica Bank, to the tune of 70 million euros, is still pending, a development also linked with the future placement of a non-performing loan portfolio held by the bank, and totaling one billion euros.
