The National Bank of Greece (NBG; Greek: Εθνική Τράπεζα της Ελλάδος, romanized: Ethnikī́ Trápeza tīs Elládos) is a banking and financial services company with its headquarters in Athens, Greece. Founded in 1841 as the newly independent country's first financial institution, it has long been the largest Greek bank, a position it still held in the early 21st century. Following the financial turmoil of the Greek government-debt crisis in the 2010s, it remains one of Greece's four dominant banks together with Alpha Bank, Eurobank Ergasias, and Piraeus Bank. It has been designated as a Significant Institution since the entry into force of European Banking Supervision in 2014, and as a consequence is directly supervised by the European Central Bank. NBG offers financial products and services for corporate and institutional clients along with private and business customers. Services include banking services, brokerage, insurance, asset management, shipping finance, leasing and factoring markets.
The National Bank of Greece was Greece's dominant bank of issue from 1842 to 1928. As a consequence of Greece's territorial expansion, it shared the issuance privilege on a local basis with the Ionian Bank in the Ionian Islands between 1864 and 1920, with the Privileged Bank of Epirothessaly in those regions between 1882 and 1899, and with the Bank of Crete in Crete between 1899 and 1919. In 1920, it recovered its original issuance monopoly following its acquisition of the Bank of Crete and revocation of the Ionian Bank's note-issuance privilege. That monopoly was transferred in 1928 to the Bank of Greece, newly established as the country's central bank under oversight of the Economic and Financial Organization of the League of Nations.
NBG has been listed on the Athens Stock Exchange since the latter's founding in 1880, and was also listed on the New York Stock Exchange from 1999 to 2015.(NYSE:NBG, ADR, ISIN US6336437057). Its development has included major acquisitions such as those of the Privileged Bank of Epirothessaly in 1899, the Bank of Crete in 1919, and the Bank of Athens in 1953.
The bankers Jean-Gabriel Eynard and Georgios Stavros founded NBG in 1841 as a commercial bank. Stavros was also elected as the first director of the Bank until his death in 1869. The bank's creation was acknowledged by the decree "On the establishment of (a) National Bank" (Official Gazette, no. 6 March 30, 1841, p. 59), according to which the National Bank is a private limited company based in Athens with a capital of 5,000,000 drachmas, divided into 5,000 shares of 1,000 drachmas. It was the first bank in the Modern Greek state's history. (The Ionian Bank was established in 1838 but only started operations in 1842 and initially operated only in the United States of the Ionian Islands, a separate polity at the time.)
At its founding the major shareholder of the National Bank was the Greek state with 1,000 shares out of 3,402. Other major shareholders were Nicholas Zosimas with 500 shares, Jean-Gabriel Eynard with 300 shares, King Louis of Bavaria with 200 shares, Konstantinos Vranis with 150 shares, Adolf Graf with 146 shares and Theodoros Rallis with 100 shares. Rothshild Frères Paris bought 50 shares and Jean-Gabriel Eynard bought another 50 shares in their name to boost the prestige of the new bank. It used to have the sole right of note issue, which it lost in 1928 when the newly established Bank of Greece took over as the country's central bank. In 1880, NBG was listed in the Athenas Stock Exchange. In 1899, NBG acquired the Privileged Bank of Epirothessaly.
The arrival of the 20th Century saw NBG begin its international expansion. In 1904 NBG established the Banque d'Orient as a joint venture with Nationalbank für Deutschland, which soon withdrew from the venture and sold the branches in Constantinople and Hamburg. The Banque d'Orient kept its branches in Salonica and Smyrna, which were part of the Ottoman Empire at the time, and Alexandria in Egypt. Three years later, NBG established a first overseas branch of its own in Cyprus. NBG became government-owned during the First World War when NBG refused to finance new military equipment for the Greek government. The government then passed a law that permitted the government to appoint its own people to the Bank's board.
In 1919 NBG acquired the Bank of Crete (Trapeza Kritis). However, in 1923 the Treaty of Lausanne provided for a compulsory exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey, leading to the departure of the Greeks from Smyrna. As a result, Banque d'Orient closed its branch there. The influx of more than 1 million refugees to Greece during this period created several challenges; NBG played a pivotal role in their settlement with loans and related instruments.
The 1930s saw further international expansion. In 1930 NBG and Bank of Athens combined their activities in Egypt into a joint subsidiary, Banque Nationale de Grèce et d'Athènes. Two years later, NBG acquired full ownership of the Banque d'Orient. Then in 1939, on the eve of the Second World War, the NBG established a subsidiary in New York City, the Hellenic Bank Trust Company. Throughout the interwar period, the NBG was widely viewed as representing British capital in Greece, not least through its longstanding association with London-based Hambros Bank, whereas its smaller competitor the Bank of Athens was perceived as aligned with French interests.
In 1941, during the Axis Occupation of Greece, Deutsche Bank assumed oversight of the bank, which entailed operational control even though it did not technically take over its shares out of consideration for Italian sensitivities.
In 1953 the NBG took over the Bank of Athens, which was at that time the second largest Bank in Greece. Both banks cooperated before in their foreign branches in Middle East which were operated as Banque Nationale de Grèce et d'Athènes. The NBG took over also the affiliated South African Bank of Athens (est. 1947). The former headquarters of the Bank of Athens are also still used until today. In 1960 Egypt nationalised all banks in Egypt, including Banque Nationale de Grèce et d'Athènes, which it merged into National Bank of Egypt.
In 1965 NBG acquired the Greek Trapeza Epagelmatikis Pistis (Professional Credit Bank). The next year bank governor Georgios Mavros founded the Cultural Foundation of the National Bank. In 1978 the Greek government permitted the formation of Arab Hellenic Bank with 49% Arab ownership, as an exception to its prohibition on foreign banks owning more than 40% of the equity of a Greek bank. NBG held 51% and provided most of the bank staff. The Libyan Arab-Foreign Bank and Kuwaiti Investment Organisation held 40% between them while other Arab investors held 9%. That same year NBG opened again a branch in Cairo. In 1994 NBG incorporated its branches in Cyprus into a subsidiary: National Bank of Greece (Cyprus). The next year the Greek government dissolved the insolvent Arab Hellenic Bank at a cost to Greece's Deposit Guarantee Fund of €1.5 million in payments to depositors. In 1998 the Swiss architect Mario Botta won the competition for the new wing of the headquarters, the building was completed in 2001. In 1998 NBG merged with the Ethniki Ktimatiki Trapeza Ellados (National Mortgage Bank of Greece), itself the result of the merger of the National Mortgage Bank and the National Housing Bank of Greece. In 1999 NBG started trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
After the end of communism in Eastern Europe, NBG took advantage of the opportunity to expand to Southeast Europe. In April 2000, in a joint deal with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and IFC, NBG acquired a majority stake in Stopanska Banka (Skopje, North Macedonia). In July, National Bank of Greece acquired 89.9% of the United Bulgarian Bank (UBB).
In 2002 NBG merged with ETEBA (National Investment Bank for Industrial Development), but NBG's attempted merger with Alpha Bank fell through. The next year, NBG bought Banca Romaneasca, a Romanian bank, and currently holds 88.7% of all outstanding shares. Banca Romaneasca has 90 branches.