After 17 years of presence in Cyprus, the Eurobank group is preparing to make the next leap, which in addition to the plan to acquire Hellenic Bank and create a larger banking organization in Greece and Cyprus, hides other goals as well.
Cyprus is for the Eurobank groupbusiness bridge and a strong pillar of development, as the banking group's plan is to use the island to attract businesses from India, Israel and the Middle East, to become a gateway for their establishment in Cyprus and extend their expansion to the European Union. On the other hand, India the world's 5th largest economy is looking to Europe as a new gateway for its exports as Great Britain lost this strategic advantage after Brexit.
And Greece sees India
However, in the plan is not only Cyprus but also Greece, which wants to rewarm relations with India. A few days ago, in Athens, the managing director of the Eurobank group Fokion Karavias, together with the leading management team from Greece and Cyprus, informed a Cypriot press mission that the strategic choice also has to do with a positive geopolitical predisposition in this direction, as both the Greek and Cypriot governments wish to develop the prospect, something which was also evident in the visit of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Athens.
India also wishes to explore the possibility of utilizing the port of Piraeus for the faster export of its products to the European market . It is also noted that the managing director of Eurobankparticipated in the business mission that accompanied the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis during his recent visit to India, during which important agreements were signed and several new opportunities were identified to enrich the cooperation between the two countries.
In all regarding Eurobank, an important development that was even included in the joint communique issued by the governments of the two countries, was the signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoU) with NPCI Internationalwith a view to entering into a strategic alliance in the field of international inbound remittances.
Advertising advantages
As he revealed about the next steps, processes have already started to open Representative Office (Rep Office) in Mumbai, which will be under the responsibility of the managing director of Eurobank Cyprus Michael Louis. In the context of the strategy that the bank wants to develop, Mr. Karavias explained that Cyprus can be the basis for the development of business with the dynamic economies of the Middle East and India, which are economies that in the coming years, as he said, will have very strong growth rates.
We will advertise the advantages of Cyprusnoted, such as the common business language in Cyprus and India which is English, the status of Cyprus as a member of the Commonwealth, also the two countries have a common corporate law, there is an agreement to avoid double taxation with India and a developed professional services sector in Cyprus . Now, Cyprus, as he mentioned, has a strong banking system, which is very important in the eyes of foreigners which is directly supervised by EKT and can serve the needs of foreign companies. He expressed the assessment that even a small percentage of companies to bring to Cyprus will be a very big advantage for the country's economy.
Mr. Louis explained that the development plan in India is done after Brexit, seeing that there is a need for businesses from India to want to invest in Europe. He mentioned that there will be an office staffed to promote Cyprus as a service center, with benefits for both Cyprus and the banking group.
There is also the Middle East
There is also the Middle East
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In his intervention, the deputy managing director of Eurobank Group – Chief Operating Officer (COO) & International Activities – Stavros Ioannou, who last weeks he was visiting Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, he mentioned that in these countries you can explore the markets without great risk and without great capital.
He explained that in Abu Dhabi and Dubai the financial centers have been createdwhich you enter flexibly and can explore without risk. As he said, you can create a representative office in a few days to explore the country at low cost, quickly and easily.
According to Mr. Ioannou, synonymous with extroversion and development, Eurobank implements targeted initiatives to further strengthen its presence in the main markets where it operates. In this context, he noted, the initiatives that have been carried out to strengthen the group's presence in Bulgaria and Cyprus are included., with the latter expected to play a central role as a European gateway for businesses originating from the Middle East and India.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Eurobank Georgios Zanias, in his short speech he emphasized that with the initiatives that the group has in its plans and are related to Cyprus, it wants to give value to the island and to Eurobank. Eurobank's extroversion and plans for the domestic market are expected to be discussed on Cypriot soil this week (March 20 & 22), as the board meeting will be held in Limassol (last year a board meeting was held in Sofia , where Eurobank maintains a presence).
The Indian major shareholder also helps
Another strengthening factor for Eurobank's plans with India, according to Mr. Karavia is that the main shareholder of the group is Prem Watsa, founder and CEO of Fairfax Financial Holdings is an Indian. At the age of 25 he left India as an immigrant to Toronto but maintains very strong ties to the country. Fairfax has created a subsidiary, Fairfax India, with several billion investments in India and therefore noted this enables us to also have an access through our major shareholder. It is not an easy endeavor what we are trying to do, but the important thing that gives us the impetus is that there is the will at the level of governments to develop this cooperation.
It is noted that the Indian market has been since 2013 on the radar of the Cyprus Investment Attraction Agency (CIPA) and so far there have been several business and investment meetings as have been held with the KEBE. According to the data of the Statistical Service of Cyprus, the bilateral trade between India and Cyprus shows a gradual increase from 2015 onwards.
