Bank of Greece

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bank of Greece
Τράπεζα της Ελλάδος
The head office at Panepistimou Str.  in Athens
The head office at Panepistimou Str. in Athens
Headquarters Athens , Greece
founding 1927
president Giannis Stournaras
country Greece
currency

Euro

ISO 4217 EUR
Currency reserves EUR 6.5 billion (2016)
Mint (s) Ethniko nomismatokopio
Website

https://www.bankofgreece.gr/Pages/en/default.aspx

predecessor

National Bank of Greece

List of central banks

The Bank of Greece ( Greek Τράπεζα της Ελλάδος Trapeza tis Ellados , English Bank of Greece ) is the central bank of Greece . She was the publisher of the drachma , the former currency of Greece. Its role in monetary policy was transferred to the European Central Bank in 2001 . The Bank of Greece has branches in many major cities in Greece. It is a member of the European System of Central Banks .

history

founding

The bank was officially founded on September 15, 1927. From 1841 until the Bank of Greece was founded, the function was - still today - the largest commercial bank in the country, the National Bank of Greece ( Greek Εθνική Τράπεζα της Ελλάδος Ethnikí Trapeza tis Ellados ) exercised by the central bank. Assets and debts were transferred from the National Bank to the new central bank. The Bank of Greece started operations on May 14, 1928 with a staff of 500 people. The bank later opened a number of branches and agencies. The first director of the Bank of Greece was Alexandros Diomidis , and Emmanouil Tsouderos was the vice director . In 1933 construction began on today's headquarters, which was ceremoniously opened on April 4, 1938. In 1989 the building was listed as a historical monument.

The occupation time

During the German occupation , the bank was used to withdraw property and assets from the country. The first measure was to change the exchange rate and to include it in the export of Greek goods to Germany. With every export, the bank was obliged to transfer the value of the goods to an escrow account in Berlin in favor of the importer and at the same time to pay the producer of the goods. The bank was thus forced to grant German traders temporary credit. Since both the prices were fixed at the pre-war level and there was no payment in the case of late delivery (which was often the case during the war), the foreign importers made excessive profits at the expense of the producers. The goods were accessed through seizure by the occupation authorities. When local producers then switched from an export-oriented economy to a subsistence economy, DEGRIGES was founded.

One local measure was to increase the number of banknotes in circulation. Since the bank couldn't keep up with the printing, in 1941 already canceled notes intended for destruction were put into circulation again (already rare copies of notes are even rarer in this punched and marked form and are considered rarities among numismatists).

During the Second World War , the Bank of Greece's gold reserves (18.86 tons) were transported to London via Crete , Alexandria and South Africa .

Forced loan

In 1942 the Bank of Greece was forced by the German Reich to give up its foreign currency reserves in the form of a forced loan , the amount of which at the end of the war was 476 million Reichsmarks . The fact that this loan was never repaid is repeatedly discussed as a burden on the Greek-German relationship.

The post-war period until 2001

After the end of World War II and in the face of the civil war (1946–1949), the country's economy and financial system were in a catastrophic state. At that time, close cooperation between the Central Bank of Greece and the government seemed necessary. This was institutionalized in 1946 through the establishment of a currency committee. The Monetary Committee was composed of the Minister of Economic Affairs as chairman and four other ministers as well as the Governor of the Bank of Greece. As the banking supervisory authority, he had to monitor the observance of numerous credit rules and thereby support the credit and overall economic policies of the respective government. With the abolition of the Monetary Committee in 1982, this system of direct monitoring was changed into a two-stage process.

Greece joined the Bretton Woods system in 1953 . Then the currency was changed: 1000 old drachmas = 1 new drachma.

In the 1950s the Bank of Greece had over 50 branches, in 1955 these were reduced to 27, followed by a further reduction.

The Bank of Greece and the European Central Bank

In June 2000, the European Council of Economics and Finance Ministers ( ECOFIN ) decided to accept Greece as the twelfth member of the European Monetary Union on January 1, 2001 . The Maastricht Treaty guarantees the bank's independence; d. This means that the European Central Bank System (ESCB) created within the framework of the European Union is not intended to bring about any major changes in the banking supervisory tasks and intervention options of the Bank of Greece. The central bank can advise the Council, the European Commission and the national supervisory authorities on questions of European banking supervision law. With the introduction of monetary and credit policy in the euro area, price stability was specified as the bank's primary objective.

organization

The statutory organs of the central bank are the general assembly of shareholders, the governor, the two lieutenant governors, the general council and the credit policy council.

The supreme body of the bank is the general meeting of shareholders.

The general administration is subordinate to the General Council, which consists of the governor, the two vice-governors and nine other members. While the General Council determines general banking policy, the 21 members of the Board of Directors (including the governor and the two vice-governors) are responsible for its implementation.

The credit policy council, made up of the governor, the two vice-governors and three other members, is responsible for the country's currency and exchange rate policy.

The governor and the two lieutenant governors are elected for six years. The governor chairs the general and credit policy councils. He represents the Bank of Greece on the European Central Bank Council.

List of governors

  • Alexandros Diomidis : April 21, 1928 - September 29, 1931
  • Emmanouil Tsouderos : October 31, 1931 - August 8, 1935, March 20, 1936 - July 9, 1939
  • Ioannis Drosopoulos: July 9, 1939 - July 28, 1939
  • Kyriakos Varvaresos: August 4, 1939 - February 11, 1946 (1941–1944 in exile)
  • Xenophon Zolotas  : October 12, 1944 - January 8, 1945 (Co-Governor), February 5, 1955 - August 5, 1967, November 27, 1974 - October 29, 1981
  • Georgios Mantzavinos: February 11, 1946 - February 2, 1955
  • Dimitrios Galanis: August 7, 1967 - May 4, 1973
  • Konstantinos Papagiannis: May 7, 1973 - August 9, 1974
  • Panagiotis Papaligouras : August 9, 1974 - October 23, 1974
  • Gerasimos Arsenis : November 3, 1981 - February 20, 1984
  • Dimitrios Chalikias: February 20, 1984 - February 20, 1992
  • Evthymios Christodoulou: February 20, 1992 - December 1, 1993
  • Ioannis Boutos: December 1, 1993 - October 26, 1994
  • Loukas Papadimos : October 26, 1994 - May 31, 2002
  • Nikolaos Garganas : May 31, 2002 - June 20, 2008
  • Giorgos Provopoulos : June 20, 2008 - June 20, 2014
  • Giannis Stournaras : since June 27, 2014

tasks

In the European System of Central Banks, the Central Bank of Greece is subject to the legal order of the Treaty of the European Community. In the context of the ESCB, the Bank of Greece's important role is to ensure monetary and financial stability.

The areas of responsibility of the Bank of Greece include:

  • Monetary and credit policy
  • Financial stability and ensuring the payment system
  • Money supply
  • Production of statistical data

Monetary and credit policy

In accordance with the guidelines and instructions of the European Central Bank (ECB), the bank participates in the formulation of monetary and credit policy in the euro area. The bank runs credit policy operations. It provides liquidity to domestic credit institutions.

Financial stability and ensuring the payment system

The Bank of Greece is responsible for overseeing financial stability. It monitors banking risks and analysis developments and submits the applications for ensuring financial stability. The Bank of Greece oversees the payment system and instruments with a view to ensuring reliability and efficiency. It analyzes payment statistics and publishes statistical news. Since May 19, 2008, the Bank of Greece has been a member of TARGET2 (Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross Settlement Express Transfer System). TARGET2 is the technical infrastructure of the individual payment systems of the central banks of the Eurozone and the European Central Bank and is mainly used for large interbank transfers and payments.

Money supply

The Bank of Greece issues euro banknotes subject to the prior approval of the ECB and is responsible for the circulation and handling of euro banknotes and coins in Greece.

Production of statistical data

The central bank is engaged in collecting important statistical data from the monetary financial institutions. It is also an important task for the central bank. The central bank collects data on discount rates and currency statistics (loans, deposits, and assets and debts of monetary financial institutions). The statistical data are passed on to the ECB. Then the data is taken into account for the calculation of the average interest rates in the euro area. The results directly influence the ECB's monetary policy decisions.

See also

Web links

literature

  • Nikolaos A Lyberis: The approval of credit institutions in Greek banking supervisory law with special consideration of the Community law harmonization obligation . Munster 2002.
  • Achilles Z. Cominos: The monetary and credit policy of the Bank of Greece . Berlin 1940.
  • Charalambos Gotsis: The credit system as an instrument of development policy in Greece . Marburg 1972.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Greece Foreign Exchange Reserves . tradingeconomics.com. Accessed on January 28, 2017 (English)
  2. www.bankofgreece.gr: The Banknote Printing Works of the Bank of Greece (IETA) - The National Mint
  3. Website of the Bank of Greece (English)
  4. Anestis Nessou: Greece 1941-1944: German occupation policy and crimes against civilians. V & R Unipress, 2009, ISBN 978-3-89971-507-1 , page 366 .
  5. moneypedia.de
  6. Website of the Bank of Greece (English)
  7. ^ Statement of the German Federal Government of February 11, 2010 (PDF; 113 kB)