Retail Banking
Retail Banking offers a range of products and services that meet the specific needs and requirements of individual customers and small businesses.
Deposits – Retail Banking encompasses all of the Bank’s deposits, both for individuals and businesses. Total deposits Bank-wide increased to €39.9 billion compared to €39.6 billion on 31.12.2022 at Bank level, despite the market challenges and the inflationary environment. The tourism sector enhanced economic growth, especially for large businesses.
In addition, supporting the savings effort of Greek households, with the Saving Now and Megalono accounts as key ambassadors, more than 135,000 children held the Megalono savings account in 2023.
Deposit products and services remained available through e-Banking. Focusing mainly on optimal customer service and seamless customer transactions, new e-Banking functionalities were introduced and even more customers switched to e-Statements.
Transactions and services packages – A new era of benefits and discounts was launched in 2022 with Eurobank My Advantage Banking for individuals, which was enhanced with Eurobank My Blue Advantage.
Customers obtain the basic Eurobank My Blue Advantage package for every payment account to secure cost savings on their transactions, use of banking services, as well as benefits and discounts at partner companies. Moreover, customers may choose one of the My Silver, My Gold and My Platinum packages and make the most of their relationship with Eurobank, such as benefits at partner companies and more savings on transactions, such as bill payments and cash transfers, every month by linking their account to a package. They can save up a monthly amount, depending on the package they choose, compared to carrying out each transaction separately.
On 31.12.2023, retail customers held more than 590,000 My Advantage packages and businesses more than 450,000 packages (Classic for Business and Advanced for Business).
Investments – A new investment platform was launched in Q4 2023 to facilitate the investment products and services offering, especially those related to mutual funds (MF) under the investment management of Eurobank Asset Management MFMC.
At this initial stage the new investment platform supports all MF transactions under the Execution only service making the most of the Bank’s available channels, especially e-Banking.
Personal Investment Portfolios, a brand-new service under Portfolio Management service, was also introduced, along with the new investment platform. Personal Investment Portfolios is also available through e-Banking, allowing clients to initiate the service on their own, from setting up an investment portfolio to taking the suitability questionnaire and, selecting an investment strategy based on their risk profile.
This new service is a bold step towards offering valuable investment services that were available only to Private Banking clientele to a broader range of clients.
Mortgage loans – Despite the high interest rate environment, due to the broader Eurozone monetary policy, the Bank remained the leader in the mortgage lending market with the highest balance out of the mortgage lending portfolio in Greece, which stood at €7.8 billion in total by the end of 2023.
During 2023, Eurobank continued to offer attractive alternatives to new mortgage borrowers. Specifically, the Bank kept the interest rates of fixed-rate mortgage loans or loans with an initial fixed rate at relatively low levels. At the same time, further reductions in floating interest rate spreads were introduced by absorbing some of the costs related to the increase in the base interest rates.
The Bank continued to enhance its social character, by actively participating in the “Spiti mou” programme, co-financed and subsidised by the Greek State, for granting low-interest loans to young individuals or couples wishing to buy their first home. This initiative spurred a significant increase in demand for mortgages among first-time young homebuyers. Moreover, the Bank continued to contribute to the residential green lending sector through Exoikonomo 2021 which was implemented by the Recovery and Resilience Facility in the framework of the Next Generation EU as well as with Exoikonomo-Aftonomo, that was implemented in the framework of the ESPA 2014 - 2020 and will participate in the other new housing energy efficiency programmes (e.g. Exoikonomo 2023, etc.).
To protect customers from rapid increases in reference rates that lead to higher loan instalments, in 2023 the Bank launched a reward scheme for performing borrowers. This initiative aimed at reducing the current floating interest rates for mortgage loans and offered protection against potential future increases for 12 months.
Consumer loans – Disbursements of amortised consumer loans stood at €213 million, up by 20% compared to 2022. The leading product was Payroll Personal Loan, accounting for 65% of total disbursements. During 2023, the Bank constantly focused on tailor-made consumer loans that meet special customer traits and targeted needs, launching My Fast Loan and CashPlus Eurobank Loan for standard Personal Banking clients.
The Bank also expanded the range of digitally offered consumer loans and launched Payroll Loan through e-Banking and the Eurobank Mobile App, which contributed by 16% of total Payroll Loan disbursements. In terms of retailer loans, the Bank expanded its alternative channel network through partnerships with strategic retailers in the Greek market.
Having recovered from the post-COVID-19 global disruptions in the car industry and its supply chain management, car loan disbursements in 2023 reached €149 million, mostly for new car purchases. By the end of 2023, the Bank’s consumer lending portfolio in Greece amounted to €1.6 billion, including credit card balances.
Cards Business – In 2023, Eurobank’s total card portfolio reached 3.7 million cards (debit, credit and prepaid) with total issuing turnover amounting to €10.3 billion, +15% y-o-y. It is the 1st bank in Greece to offer the next generation of eco-friendly cards, made of biodegradable materials. The Bank continues to enhance its digital self-service solutions, by offering users an end-to-end digital, omni-channel credit card application option through the Eurobank Mobile App – following its leading position in Greece. During the year, it launched a debit card issuing and reissuing process through digital channels.
The Cards Control feature, available through the Bank’s online platform, allows cardholders to manage a range of card functionalities, without the need to visit a branch or speak to a dedicated EuroPhone agent. A series of tailor-made card use and acquisition campaigns were launched in 2023, further rewarding cardholders for their day-to-day card spending, while helping boost turnover.
Eurobank offers an array of digital wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay and Garmin Pay), catering to all cardholder needs and allowing both iOS and Android device users to make payments using their Eurobank Visa or Mastercard cards. 20% of contactless transactions are with digital wallet, demonstrating that digital wallets are an everyday tool for customers.
Eurobank’s leading loyalty programme in Greece, €pistrofi, rewards customers with cashback in actual euros rather than points, which can be redeemed through a wide network of more than 8,500 affiliated merchants. The programme continues to nurture the business bond between existing and prospective customers by rewarding their overall relationship with the Bank and increasing the value of their transactions. Since 2006, more than €200 million have been returned to customers through the €pistrofi loyalty programme.
Eurobank remains a leader in the field of cobranded credit cards, delivering value to its customers’ day-to-day transactions through exclusive partnerships with entities that include Greece’s largest telecommunications provider (COSMOTE World Mastercard), the largest shopping malls in the country (YES Visa), a high-end retail store (Reward World Mastercard) and a major supermarket chain (masoutis Visa).
As part of the acquiring business spin-off and its sale to Worldline GR in June 2022, Eurobank acts as merchant servicer and offers a wide variety of POS products across all channels, such as POS, ePOS, Payment Link and Smart POS. It is a leader in offering innovative new products and educating the market, to achieve business growth and increase its market share.
Bancassurance – Eurobank achieved high performance and results in bancassurance activity, reaching €460 million, and remains the bancassurance market leader. Aiming to meet all market needs, Eurobank launched new life (capital accumulation) and non-life insurance products (pet insurance) for individuals, and new business products (cybersecurity) for SMEs. Moreover, it launched a sophisticated, personalised insurance planning tool, designed to guide customers in simultaneously selecting multiple suitable products, while also facilitating access to the maximum discounts available through EurolifeSYN+, the combined discount programme” by Eurolife FFH.
Personal Banking
The vision of Eurobank Personal Banking is to be the most adaptable and evolving Personal Banking segment in the Greek banking market. Its mission is to provide a unique banking experience to Personal Banking clients through exclusive products and services at favourable rates. The Personal Banking Relationship Managers apply an integrated approach in meeting their clients’ financial goals, through multiple products and services, offered in cooperation with internal departments or external partners, such as Eurobank Asset Management MFMC, Eurolife FFH Insurance and Eurobank Equities SA.
Last year was also extremely important and successful for Personal Banking, due to new sub-segmentation implementation and the significant increase in its balances. 2023 was a milestone for Personal Banking customer service as a new service model was introduced, whereby Relationship Managers serve Top Prime and Prime clients, while Branch Managers or executives serve Standard clients.
In 2023, Personal Banking:
- Increased assets under management by €2.1 billion by adding new mutual fund and insurance product holders.
- Contributed to a 56% change in total retail balance deposits.
- Managed to increase its client base by 13,000 based on the new sub-segmentation criteria.
- Strongly adopted the hybrid commercial approach through physical and digital channels.
Personal Banking contributed to the launch major projects, such as:
- Introduced the new investment platform and Personal Investment Portfolio service.
- Designed, activated and used new questionnaires, such as suitability test and insurance planning tool.
- Increased lending and improved its portfolio quality through the launch of new personal loans, with premium interest rates for PB Standard clients.
- Expanded its mortgage offering with favourable rates for cash collaterals.
Individual Banking
Individual Banking remained focused on developing and serving 87% of the Bank’s active customers (2.8 million) retaining 88% of consumer loan balances and 83% of mortgage loan balances. By launching a comprehensive commercial plan, Individual \Banking carried out more than 13 million contacts with individual customers, 98% of which were through digital and alternative channels, aiming to efficiently meet the whole array of their banking needs. Furthermore, with the integration of advanced analytics and special credit models, it managed to increase consumer lending and maintain portfolio quality.
Moreover, major initiatives led to significant accomplishments:
- Standing by the vision to offer pioneering solutions to the communities served, Individual Banking launched the major initiative of online pension transfer through e-Banking and the Eurobank Mobile App, introducing Eurobank as the first Greek bank to offer that innovative service to pensioners.
- 125,000 new individual customers joined Eurobank.
- More than 37,000 individuals upgraded to the Personal Banking segment.
- 241,000 individual customers started a basic banking relationship with the Bank.
- 153,000 public and private sector employees and pensioners trusted the Bank with their regular source of income.
- More than 200 automated campaigns were launched through digital and alternative channels, developing a step-by-step individual customer relationship with the Bank and offering a unique customer experience.
Retail Business Banking
Eurobank’s strategy for small businesses focuses on companies with:
- An annual turnover of up to €5 million, which have shown operational resilience.
- The potential for further growth in domestic and international markets, by maximising their competitiveness, increasing productivity, and introducing innovation in their operational and production process.
The loan portfolio for Retail Business Banking amounted to €3 billion as at 31.12. 2023.
During 2023, Retail Business Banking:
- Continued to provide liquidity to the market, by participating in EU funding programmes, in partnership with the European Investment Fund (EIF), disbursing €186.4 million through the “ΙnvestEU SME Competitiveness” financing programme.
- Achieved the goal of having SMEs participate in the Development Programmes, through the “Eurobank Development” initiative, an integrated solution that combines lending products and consulting through third-party companies.
- Offered “Business Banking Tourism” for the 13th year running, with a wide range of banking services and third-party offerings, which significantly contributed to increased deposits, POS commissions and loans.
- Launched «Business Banking Health», a comprehensive programme of banking and third-party offerings addressed to businesses and healthcare professionals, aiming at their business development and digital upgrade, and at further increasing the Bank’s market share in financing, deposits and POS commissions in the healthcare sector.
- Streamlined the access of smaller SMEs to financing through the POS Cash Advance, extending financing to 3,890 customers.
As a result of these initiatives, the Bank extended new credit limits and term loans amounting to €580 million.
Corporate and Investment Banking
Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) provides fully integrated business solutions and excellent customer service to large and complex corporate customers, medium-sized enterprises and institutional clients in Greece and SE Europe. Furthermore, it is responsible for managing the liquidity and funding needs of the Bank, as well as handling its trading and investment portfolio. CIB’s structure is designed to be responsive to market conditions, and to the expectations and needs of its sophisticated client base. It also aims at ensuring efficient provision of services based on market and industry expertise and know-how.
Large Corporate (LC)
Eurobank serves as the main point of contact for financial solutions and products to major clients. At the end of 2023 it managed a portfolio of around €5 billion (incl. corporate bond loans) and included more than 130 groups of companies, mainly operating in the energy, manufacturing, retail, service, health and construction industries.
Commercial Banking (CB)
The lending portfolio of CB amounted to €3.6 billion in 2023. CB is responsible for managing relationships with MidCaps nationwide, through its network of business centres (BCs). Further to a recent restructuring of the CB network, currently the BCs are strategically located to ensure close coverage and quality service to clients, especially those based outside the Athens metropolitan area.
Structured Finance (SF)
Eurobank offers comprehensive services through 5 dedicated departments:
- Project Finance
- Commercial Real Estate Finance
- M&A Financing and Structured Solutions
- M&A and Sponsors Financing
- Hotels and Leisure Finance
The SF departments coordinate the actions of all Group subsidiaries, while they are responsible for handling both performing portfolios and non-performing loans, the latter nevertheless comprising a very small fraction of the portfolio. On 31.12.2023, the performing portfolio managed by SF exceeded €4.7 billion, achieving a significant net credit expansion, mainly attributable to the Project Finance portfolio, and specifically the Renewable Energy Sources (RES), with all other departments recording strong performance.
In 2023, the Bank maintained its focus on top-quality projects and relationships, managing to secure multiple roles and participations in strategic projects in Greece. Additional attention was paid in supporting green transition, which led to concluding deals for several green loans as well as supporting major infrastructure projects across the country, either in the transport or network sectors, or in the hotel and commercial real estate sectors.
Shipping Finance
Eurobank has more than 30 years of experience in shipping finance, having established a strategic position as lender to a large number of Greek shipping companies. Eurobank holds a leading position in the Greek shipping arena, (and the top one among the Greek banks), with a global shipping portfolio of c. USD 4 billion (including commitments of c. USD 780 million) as of 31.12.2023.
The clientele consists of shipping groups of Greek beneficial ownership, with an established presence and medium to large fleets. The Bank finances vessels trading in the main sectors of shipping, i.e. dry bulk cargo, wet and containers or other categories under specific credit parameters. Shipping loans are purposed to finance the acquisition of second-hand tonnage of young age and the construction of newbuilding vessels, aiming to support the renewal of the Greek merchant fleet. The Bank’s strategy is to include sustainability-related clauses in its shipping financing, wherever these are applicable. Shipping Finance is based in Piraeus and also acts as a shipping hub for the Group, serving Greek shipping companies also through Eurobank Cyprus and Eurobank Private Bank Luxembourg SA.
International Portfolio Unit
In December 2023, the International Portfolio Unit was formed under Large Corporate with the mandate to explore international credit opportunities. The first transaction onboarded in the portfolio within Q4 and corresponded to the Bank’s Group participation in an around €350 million international syndicated loan for a leading telecommunication services group in the Western Balkans region. This initiative will enable the Group to strengthen its international footprint and diversify its income streams, while maintaining a risk balanced approach.
The target is to build a portfolio of corporate loans through participation in syndicated loans arranged by Tier-1 international banks with a focus on European borrowers.
Syndicated Debt Solutions (SDS)
Syndicated Debt Solutions is responsible for structuring and arranging a broad range of special and structured financing deals, including corporate syndicated loans and bond loans, leveraged buyout structures, and convertible and exchangeable bonds.
SDS also manages international primary and secondary loan trading activity, liaising with international bank trading desks, funds and brokers, aiming to designing and exploring new loan opportunities for optimising and enhancing Eurobank’s portfolio and market position. In 2023, the Bank maintained its leading position in the market, with the transaction volume reaching around €3.8 billion.
Investment Banking
It offers strategic financial advisory services to corporate clients and their shareholders for mergers, acquisitions, disposals and capital restructurings, as well as for raising capital, either through private equity transactions or through the capital markets.
In 2023, the Bank provided advisory services on finance strategy and/or services of underwriting or placing of financial instruments to sovereign and corporate clients looking for strategic advice in executing their growth or divestment opportunities, such as PPC, HRADF (regarding the Athens International Airport IPO), IDEAL Holdings and Attica Holdings, as well as clients seeking to raise capital through the bond and equity capital markets, such as MYTILINEOS, OPTIMA BANK and Trade Estates.
Global Transaction Banking (GTB)
Eurobank provides quality transaction banking services to corporate and institutional clients. The following business units operate within GTB:
- Cash and trade services – Its sales and product expert teams offer comprehensive and innovative transaction banking services to large corporate and SME clients, by assisting them in streamlining and automating their daily processes, and by expanding their reach. The key services are payment and cash management, trade and supply chain finance, payroll and bancassurance.
- Securities services – Eurobank is the only provider in Greece offering a full range of Securities Services products, including local and global custody, issuer services, derivatives clearing, margin lending, middle-office services and fund accounting, to both local and foreign investors, across all types of instruments.
- Intelligent services – It leads strategic technology and innovation initiatives across all fields of transaction banking and drives the Bank beyond banking initiatives, focusing on ecosystems such as the Digital Academy for Business and Exportgate. With active involvement from its business units and customers, it shapes its digital services in line with its customer needs and the latest tech trends. Moreover, it meticulously oversees the entire lifecycle of transaction banking e-services offering, from conception to implementation and final deployment.
GTB leverages modern technology infrastructure to achieve several key objectives:
- Increased penetration – Expanding the reach of its existing services to customers.
- Innovation – Constantly identifying innovative channels for service delivery and designing value-adding solutions, tailor-made to its customer needs.
- Customer engagement – Enhancing customer interaction and satisfaction by delivering consistent and well-designed e-services, matching the voice of its customers.
- Omni-channel experience – Delivering an omni-channel digital experience to its customers, allowing them to seamlessly access transaction banking services across various channels, such as mobile devices, digital platforms, host-to-host and API integration, as well as traditional branches. This approach ensures consistency and convenience in all customer interactions.
- Partnership with fintech innovators – Striking active synergies with key fintech innovators in the market to leverage cutting-edge technologies and solutions. By partnering with startup and technology companies, it stays at the forefront of emerging trends, enhancing the reach of its transaction banking services with innovative and disruptive solutions.
Eurobank Factors SA
In 2023, Eurobank Factors recorded another outstanding year in terms of turnover, which remained at the historical high of €7.5 billion, while lending balances significantly increased by €100 million, reaching a new record. Likewise, provisional figures demonstrated remarkable growth in pre-tax profits, despite a serious correction in margins due to strong competition.
2023 was another milestone year for the company’s international performance as it received the gold medal in Export Factoring worldwide and a bronze medal in combined Export-Import Factoring in Europe. The awards were presented during the FCI’s - the global representative body for factoring - annual meeting in Marrakech, Morocco.
Eurobank Leasing SA
During 2023, Eurobank Leasing further grew its business by €147 million in new disbursements (+10% y-o-y) and an overall market share of 23% (new production), among the financial leasing companies operating in Greece. In the renewable energy sources and office equipment subcategory, Eurobank Leasing was ranked 1st with a share of 59%, while it held the 2nd place in passenger vehicles. (Source: Association of Greek Leasing Companies).
The company provides financing solutions in the form of leasing for manufacturing equipment, vehicles and real estate assets. It also played a significant role in initiatives that have a positive impact on the environment, such as electromobility, fibre optics and solar parks.
Markets
The Markets Sales and Structuring teams have been instrumental in providing clients with value-added solutions and hedging strategies in a volatile market landscape.
Eurobank focused on offering products and services that promote environmental and social issues and contribute positively to society. Concurrently, there was a strong push towards digital solutions. Eurobank became the 1st bank in Greece to offer comprehensive and fully automated foreign exchange digital services around the clock (24/5). The Markets Trading team also successfully navigated portfolio risks through unchartered market conditions and managed to outperform for yet another year.
Treasury (a part of Markets) strongly outperformed its financial and business objectives in 2023, while being very active in the wholesale capital and interbank markets, so as to:
- Manage the interest rate and currency risks of the banking book as well as Eurobank’s liquidity and cost of funding (in compliance with the established risk management framework and business objectives).
- Ensure the Bank’s continued compliance with its MREL requirement (as well as increase its long-term funding).
Specifically, Treasury was actively engaged in the capital markets during 2023 and successfully executed two senior preferred public market transactions:
- Its third benchmark size (€500 million) longer dated, 6NC5, senior preferred bond in early January 2023.
- An additional €500 million 6NC5 senior preferred bond in late Q4 2023, achieving the highest oversubscription for such a transaction among its peers to date.
These transactions further boosted the Bank’s MREL ratio to levels well above the 1 January 2024 interim non-binding MREL target.
Treasury also maintains a dedicated Correspondent Banking Division, offering dedicated relationship management to all its clients, and providing centralised services for the Eurobank Group, enabling cost effective payment execution and optimal cash management solutions.
In each country, Markets operations are standardised and report directly to Markets International in Greece and to the local CEO. The Group’s strategic objective is to preserve and develop its important regional footprint in the areas of liquidity management, foreign exchange, interest rates, bonds and derivative trading, as well as sell financial and investment products in the local markets. The Group continued promoting a wide range of ESG-related products and services across the client base, whereas local Markets teams successfully weathered market challenges, delivering exceptional results well above their set targets.
The Group sets strict limits for the transactions it enters into, which are monitored on a daily basis. Limits include exposures towards individual counterparties and countries, as well as VaR limits. The Group uses an automated transaction control system, which supports Markets in monitoring and managing positions and exposures.
Major Projects
Eurobank actively participates in projects and transactions that have significant benefits for the economic growth of Greece and support the sustainability transition of the Greek economy. Its position as the Development and Prosperity Bank was strengthened through its leading role in almost all flagship projects carried out in 2023, but also through continuously supporting strategic sectors of the Greek economy and financing sound business plans, this way encouraging the growth efforts of businesses, their investment plans and their extroversion.
In 2023, Eurobank financed landmark projects and transactions, such as:
- Acted as sole Arranger, had fully underwritten and undertook the role of Agent for a multi-tranche bond loan totalling €650,000,000, with Hellenic Healthcare SMSA as Issuer. The Issuer is a member of the Hellenic Healthcare Group, the largest private healthcare provider in Greece and Cyprus, owning and operating a portfolio of landmark hospital units. The bond loan, partially subscribed in 2023, was granted for refinancing purposes, working capital and acquisition financing.
- Coordinated and acted as Agent for the syndicated financing of €325 million to a subsidiary company of the GEK TERNA and MOTOR OIL Groups for the construction of an 877MW CCGT power plant in Komotini with a total budget of €375 million. Even though it operates with natural gas, it will contribute to the green transition of the country, as it provides the system with the necessary flexibility in the transition period, being very efficient and less polluting than older thermal power plants.
- Acted as one of the Mandated Lead Arrangers for the syndicated financings of both (a) Pasifai Odos and (b) Pylaia Odos, responsible for the development of the VOAK HERSONISOS – NEAPOLI Public Private Partnership (PPP) and Kalamata - Pylos PPP motorway projects, amounting to €225 million and €277 million respectively.
- Executed a €41 million CapEx financing scheme to Amanda Colossos SA, granted under the Greece 2.0 National Recovery and Resilience Plan, for the construction of Marvel Luxury Resort, a new 5* hotel on the island of Rhodes.
Additional flagship projects financed by Eurobank during 2023 with a significant impact on the Greek economy are presented under the “2023 Sustainable financing highlights” and “Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), as part of the Greece 2.0 National Recovery and Resilience Plan” sections.
Group Digital Banking
Digital banking
Eurobank was fully committed to continue delivering innovative and user-friendly digital services in 2023, as part of its digital transformation, investing in technological infrastructure and human resources, and supporting all users in accessing digital solutions.
Eurobank Group Digital Banking leverages its expertise to provide innovative, data-driven financial products and services. Placing customers at the centre, it delivers simple, personalised products and ensures easy access to them. Bringing technology closer to everyone, it acts as a digital and phygital key enabler and Eurobank’s main digital culture ambassador.
2 main aspects are identified in its digitisation journey:
- External digitisation – Its digital footprint through web and mobile banking, websites and social media presence.
- Internal digitisation – Its simplified internal processes through all customer touchpoints.
Digital products – Eurobank’s digital-first approach has led to a significant expansion of its digital portfolio, offering a range of products and services to enhance customer experience and address customer needs as voiced directly by them.
The main theme for 2023 involved the provision of “peace of mind” to the Bank’s digital customers, allowing them to meet their credit, insurance and investment needs digitally.
Key digital products and initiatives for 2023:
- New credit products – Introduced a series of new products with a personalised approach to cater for the diverse needs of its customers, along with a digital tool which leverages customer data to recommend the most suitable product for each customer and enhance customer satisfaction.
- Insurance products – Launched a variety of online insurance products, accompanied by an Online Insurance Planning Tool that helps customers create personalised insurance plans. Additionally, by providing discounts based on customer input, it makes insurance more accessible and tailored to individual needs.
- Special platform for mutual fund investments and portfolio monitoring – The introduction of a new platform for mutual fund transactions and portfolio monitoring has signalled a significant step towards providing comprehensive wealth management services. This platform offers customers the convenience of making investment and transactions in mutual funds, managing their investments and monitoring their portfolios in real time.
- Digital offering for businesses – Introduced online acquisition of Commercial Prepaid Mastercard cards, Business Debit Cards and Time Deposits for Legal Entities. These products cater for the everyday needs of businesses, providing efficient financial solutions to support their operations and growth, alleviate the need to visit a branch and save valuable time.
In addition to these digital products, Eurobank made notable advancements in 2023:
- Expanded partnerships in embedded financing – Strengthened its partnerships with new merchants in embedded financing. This initiative enables consumers to finance their online purchases directly through the Bank when shopping online, streamlining the payment process and enhancing convenience for customers.
- New customer digital onboarding – Made substantial advancements in digital onboarding, originally launched in 2022, which contributed to a remarkable expansion of its market share. This service extends its reach beyond Greece, to another 29 countries, offering a seamless and fast digital onboarding experience with personalised assistance by an experienced agent through video call, if needed.
- Enhanced customer service features – Introduced several features to upgrade the customer experience and save customers time from visiting a branch for service requests, such as card cancellation and re-issuance, as well as the ability to re-execute transactions with a simple click of a button.
Open Banking – Eurobank made further progress in Open Banking by providing financial products and services through API (Application Programming Interface) technology, based on 3 axes:
- Adhering to the PSD2 regulation by implementing biometric app-to-app redirect.
- Offering added-value APIs, such as customer onboarding, customer authentication, automated SCA payments, bulk RF and SEPA payments, as well as aggregated payments as an API provider.
- Extending its offering on account information and payment initiation services, as an API consumer.
The Open Banking channel:
- Served 159.000 customers with 7,000,000 calls.
- Increased transaction volume to €7.2 million, up by 213% compared to 2022.
Eurobank’s digital initiatives epitomise a strategic commitment to harnessing technology for delivering cutting-edge solutions and tailored experiences for individuals and business customers. These efforts were recognised by notable distinctions. In 2023, Eurobank was honoured as «Best Consumer Digital Bank in Western Europe for 2023» for the 4th consecutive year, by the esteemed US Global Finance magazine, affirming its continuous excellence in digital banking on an international scale.
e-Banking and Eurobank Mobile App – Several key indicators show significant performance continuing across the previous years.
|
Year |
Use of digital channels |
2022 |
2023 |
% of mobile users exclusively using Mobile App for their transactions with the Bank on a monthly basis |
76% |
78%
|
Transactions
|
2022
|
2023
|
Volume of digital transactions in respect to transactions (excluding withdrawals/deposits) from all Eurobank channels |
94% |
95%
|
Value of digital transactions in respect to transactions (excluding withdrawals/deposits) from all Eurobank channels |
60% |
54% |
Percentage change in volume of digital transactions |
20% |
15% |
Percentage change in value of digital transactions |
29% |
12% |
Statements |
2022
|
2023
|
e-Statements produced (million) |
4.3 |
4.7 |
Additional savings from e-Statement use (€) |
442,000 |
1,154,000
|
The Eurobank Mobile App was ranked 1st in the App store and iOS among all other banks in Greece.
Digital and hybrid sales – The volume of digital and hybrid sales increased significantly by 68% (in items) through:
- Enriching product offering across product categories and segments, e.g. new credit products (Group Sales loan, Loan for Personal Banking customers, My Fast pre-advised loan), debit cards, cybersecurity, savings account, investments (dedicated platform for mutual fund transactions).
- Increasing traffic and optimising journeys through various digital campaigns, promotions and events for a significant number of digital products. Also, designing and making the most of new capabilities to drive engagement and sales (e.g. personalisation, lead generation from digital channels and eurobank.gr).
- Designing and developing new hybrid journeys and capabilities, contributing to the Bank’s phygital model. Key initiatives included enhancements and addition of new products in the Digital Safebox (the application is initiated at the branch or through telemarketing and completed by the customer via e/m banking), new voice processing capability, supporting bancassurance sales via Phone, click2video and web callback options on its digital touchpoints.
Hybrid sales volumes doubled in 2023 vs. 2022
User experience – The User Experience (UX) team puts the customer at the heart of everything the Bank does. UX researchers and designers enhance customer and staff experience across channels and touchpoints. For conducting user research, it leverages the state-of-the-art UX Lab facilities, uses various methods and custom tools (user interviews, design thinking, usability tests, card sorting, tree testing, etc.) and recruits users from the pool of candidates in place, such as the Digital Community (digital banking customers) and the Digiators (internal staff).
During 2023, approximately 800 users were engaged in research activities for 27 initiatives. Through these research activities, the UX team identified customer and employee insights and used these to design user-friendly products and experiences.
It also implemented a design system for the mobile app, so as to work with specific design standards, patterns and components, to provide consistent experiences and efficiencies to the design and development teams.
Websites – In 2023, eurobank.gr received over 28.6 million visits, 52% of which found the Eurobank site organically through search engines (e.g. Google).
It introduced new features and enhancements to increase user experience and lead generation, such as new calculators for mortgage and consumer loans, interactive tools (appointment booking at branches, web callback, RoboChat) and new sites (Asset Management, Annual Report microsite, Growth Awards).
Social media – With 10 active channels on different platforms, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube, Eurobank:
- Recorded 285,538 interactions.
- Produced content with 1,137 posts across social media platforms.
- Performed community management, responding to 7,905 user comments.
Community management across the Bank’s social media channels helps the Bank forge better customer relationships within the digital environment, but also introduces a new approach to the bank-customer relationship and digital sales.
In terms of interactions, Eurobank ranked 1st on LinkedIn and 2nd on YouTube across the Greek banking sector. The €pistrofi loyalty page on Facebook was 1st in interactions and video views across the Greek banking sector.
Creative hub – The creative hub team (digital copywriters and designers) generated significant digital content through 1,937 deliverables of 388 projects in Group Websites, 170 email campaigns, 63 digital channels flows and microcopy projects and 5 batches of Robochat content.
Performance marketing – Through digital advertising platforms, it helps business growth directly, by supporting digital sales in achieving their sales targets, and indirectly, with marketing campaigns aiming at increasing brand awareness. In 2023, 85 digital campaigns were launched, reaching:
- Over 4 million users
- 734 million impressions
- 59.4 million video views
- Approximately 9.9 million clicks
Using cookies in accordance with the applicable data protection legislation, Eurobank continues to collect data from user interactions on its websites, to serve personalised ad content.
Customer journeys and internal digitisation – Eurobank continued to re-engineer customer and internal journeys, being loyal to the “simple, lean and targeted” principle and its unwavering dedication to customer-centricity and innovation. Numerous initiatives were carried out across channels and segments, aiming to achieve customer and operational excellence through sustainable paths. The streamlining of procedures led to a 3% rise in relationship-NPS for primary customers compared to 2022, while it also contributed towards retaining a high product NPS.
Key highlights per journey:
- Customer onboarding and management – Made it easier and faster for customers to start and manage their relationship with it through physical channels, by integrating technologies automating document submission, reducing time-to-service even further. Notably, for private clientele, it reduced signatures by 66%, as part of its commitment to excel on the wealth management operation spectrum.
- Banking everywhere – Empowered its Relationship Managers to deliver banking services directly to its clients, wherever they may be, in an effort to boost service accessibility and convenience. From account opening to card issuance, it is bringing the bank to its customers’ doorsteps.
- Lending journeys – Reduced time-to-cash even further, aiming to respond faster to customer requests. In addition, the consumer lending process achieved remarkable efficiency, with over 50% of applications seamlessly progressing without the four-eyes principle, due to automated checks. Moreover, Eurobank maintained a robust 76% automation rate on credit decision procedure, demonstrating its commitment to operational excellence and risk management.
It also recorded significant improvement in business financing, leading to a 50% reduction in time-to-cash by automating credit underwriting (40% in simple products) and contract drafting (90% automation). As a result, within 2023 more than 1,000 businesses were able to proceed in contract signing on the same day they visited the branch to apply. Similarly, it implemented automated credit decision in revolving loan renewal, aiming to boost solution scalability.
- Wealth management operations – Revolutionised the investment journey for its private clients by enabling remote servicing through the use of digital public services (e-gov). Moreover, it eliminated cumbersome paperwork and reduced the need for signatures by 80% across various investment products.
- Bancassurance – Introduced 8 new bancassurance products across physical and digital channels. Additionally, it enhanced existing products with new capabilities, ensuring customers have access to best-in-class insurance offerings.
- Service journeys and customer episodes – Aiming to cover the entire lifecycle of customer needs, and provide a smooth and frictionless experience in a horizontal manner, within 2023 Eurobank laid the groundwork towards service journey engineering. As a result, it streamlined POS acquisition processes to assist businesses towards the new regulation. It also amplified self-service options through digital channels for key service requests (e.g. certificate issuing), rationalising associated costs in the process.
- Marketing campaigns – The marketing campaigns have undergone a transformation, adopting an agile way of working and leveraging automation (70%) to reduce time-to-market by 50%. This agility ensures that the Bank can swiftly respond to market dynamics while effectively engaging with its customers.
- Embracing sustainability – Launched paperless initiatives across various aspects of its operations. From abolishing physical statements to minimising printing in branches, it is reducing its carbon footprint while advancing towards a more sustainable future.
Benchmarking
The Bank’s progress in digital maturity was benchmarked against market best practices to identify areas to be addressed by digital initiatives going forward, with a view to achieving a Digital Leader status. The identified focus areas contributed to the formation of the Bank’s “Eurobank 2030” Transformation Programme and relevant initiatives were linked to the programme’s pillars and streams.
Advanced analytics and automation
In 2023, Eurobank successfully implemented a data-driven transformation strategy, leveraging advanced analytics and data integration to boost efficiency and achieve personalisation at scale.
Through the use of its Campaign Management platform, the Advanced Analytics and Campaign Management team carried out over 25,000 actions and 35 million contacts, streamlining communication through digital and physical channels.
Eurobank’s vision of data-driven transformation is demonstrated through its successful development and implementation of a Comprehensive Recommendation Engine, which integrates machine learning algorithms with business rules to effectively prioritise business objectives. This resulted in 1.6 million customers receiving at least one recommendation, representing a 70% coverage of the transactional base.
Furthermore, Eurobank enhanced its anti-money laundering (AML) identification processes using various machine learning approaches, resulting in a 20-fold increase in accuracy. The integration of AML data and visualisation techniques facilitated energy-saving measures in case investigations.
Eurobank also focused on integration and automation, successfully integrating its Campaign Management System with e-Banking to enable real-time data and always-on campaigns.
These achievements collectively demonstrate Eurobank’s commitment to driving business growth and efficiency through the use of advanced analytics techniques, automation and data integration strategies.
Innovation Centre
The Innovation Centre’s mission is to provide fast-paced and focused innovation to the Bank, with the aim of increasing profitability and efficiency in accordance with the Bank’s strategy. By employing innovative methodologies, emerging technologies, open innovation and collaborating with FinTech companies, its primary goal is to create new and innovative solutions, eliminating pain points, identifying solutions, and remaining relevant in the digital age.
Through the established eXplore intrapreneurship programme, it continuously cultivates and promotes innovation mindset across the Bank by employing small, interdepartmental agile teams comprised of Bank employees.
Aiming at the integration of new cutting-edge technologies within the Bank through partnerships with third parties, the Innovation Centre signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with CERTH – The Center for Research and Technology Hellas, and specifically with the Informatics Institute.
For the internal innovation pillar, it ran an innovation challenge, making use of the Transformation Challenge Box, the internal ideas sourcing tool, and 173 ideas were crowdsourced.
The Innovation Center is involved in several innovation FinTech programmes in Greece as a startup mentor through its team members. It also belongs to a banking innovation community, where it shares knowledge with other banks, and keeps using its exclusive and advanced Innovation Lab to promote entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship, and to test and verify proofs of concepts and MVPs.
Wealth Management - Asset Management
Mutual Fund Management
Eurobank Asset Management MFMC holds a leading market position in Greece, with about €5.9 billion in total assets under management and supervision as at 31.12.2023:
- €4.3 billion in UCITS funds domiciled in Greece, Luxembourg and Cyprus and a 26.44% market share – 1st position in Greece among 14 Asset Management Companies (Source: Hellenic Fund and Asset Management Association).
- €0.6 billion in total assets through Institutional Asset Management Service to 21 clients, mainly pension funds in Greece and Cyprus.
- €0.6 billion in total assets belonging to Eurobank SA Group clients through Discretionary Portfolio Management Services.
- €0.5 billion in distributed assets of External Asset Managers, for which Eurobank Asset Management MFMC provides analysis, ranking and model portfolios to Eurobank Group Private Banking clients.
Eurobank is also present in the Luxembourg funds industry, one of the major global fund hubs, through its 100% subsidiary Eurobank Fund Management Company (Luxemburg) SA. The Company offers a wide variety of UCITS funds under the umbrellas (LF) Funds, (LF) Fund of Funds and (TLF) Funds, distributed in Greece, Luxembourg, Bulgaria and Cyprus. Eurobank Asset Management MFMC, also manages UCITS funds (ERB VCIC plc), registered and distributed in Cypriot market. The UCITS funds cover a broad range of all asset classes, with geographical diversification.
Private Banking
Group Private Banking offers a wide range of investment products and services (execution-only, advisory and discretionary) as well as wealth management and structuring services (lending facilities, family office structuring and servicing, fund administration services). Besides the in-house funds, the Group Private Banking, with presence in Greece, Luxembourg, London and Cyprus also distributes approximately 5,000 UCITS funds from 13 international fund managers.
On 31.12.2023, Private Banking served approximately 13,000 clients, on boarding an additional 1,600, with CAL (client assets and liabilities) reaching €11 billion.
The Group’s future Private Banking model is based on a strategic nationwide homogenisation of operations and establishment of a single customer journey, which will be technologically supported by the capabilities of the Temenos digital Wealth Management platform, already rolled out in Cyprus in April 2023 and expected to be launched in Luxembourg shortly.
The imminent plans are to expand to new markets, grow organically and build on the global momentum.
Equities Brokerage
Offering its clients access to a full range of investment products, including trading in stocks, derivatives, bonds and mutual funds around the globe, Eurobank Equities SA is a leader in the industry.
In 2023, it accounted for 17.05% of the volume of transactions in the Athens Exchange, solidifying its position as one of the brokers of choice for the institutional investors active in the Greek market, in addition to thousands of private investors.
The multi-awarded Eurobank Equities Research Division continued to build on its strong international recognition, ranking 1st in Greece Research on an Assets Under Management (AuM) weighting basis at the 2023 Institutional Investor Survey. Eurobank Equities’ research universe includes more than 25 listed companies, accounting for more than 85% of the ATHEX capitalisation and more than 90% of the traded value. Eurobank Equities Research also provides secondary coverage on the largest foreign markets and listed large cap names.
The Eurobank Equities Market Making Division provides liquidity on the shares of 42 listed corporate entities, 7 corporate bonds and 42 derivatives, capitalising on its extensive experience and proprietary technology.
Other Operations
Public Sector Banking
In 2023 Public Sector Banking aimed to create integrated proposals that respond to the special and multifaceted banking needs of public and non-profit organisations, covering the entire range of their financial activities. To that end, the Bank enhanced services offering to include competitive cash management solutions, integrated transaction services, innovative e-banking solutions, dedicated property management propositions, a wide range of insurance products, flexible financing solutions and personalised payroll packages.
It participated in 38 Requests for Proposal for the cash management of public organisations during a national and municipal election year and increased its customer base with key public-sector entities. It achieved a significant increase in public hospitals deposit market share and social security organisations, and maintained the leading position in new integrations of DIAS interbank payments for yet another year.
Retail International Customers
Retail International Customers focused on further simplifying and enhancing the customer onboarding process for non-resident individuals who wish to bank with Eurobank. In 2023, it launched the Same-Day and Proxy onboarding processes, leading to an increase in its active client base with the number of new clients more than doubling, while the digital onboarding option gained more popularity.
It raised awareness of its mortgage offering by engaging in a number of targeted marketing campaigns, among which by running targeted web and social media campaigns in the UK, France and Germany, resulting in a substantial increase in mortgage applications from non-residents.
Non-Banking Services for Businesses
Business Exchanges SA is an important vehicle for the Group’s digital transformation programme, providing digital B2B services to the Group and other businesses. It is also one of the Group’s key hubs for restructuring and consolidating its financial and HR services.
For the 23rd consecutive year Eurobank, through its subsidiary Business Exchanges SA, successfully operated in the B2B transaction sector, offering value-added digital services to its customers.
Business Exchanges assists businesses, including the Group, to streamline their supply chain through e-auctions, e-procurement and e-invoicing services. During the year, the company seamlessly integrated the e-Procurement platform across the Group (Eurobank and subsidiaries), engaging more than 2,000 users. The successful rollout of the new e-procurement platform, provides a modern cloud-based solution for streamlined purchases, enhancing internal digitisation, cost efficiencies and enriched services to the Group’s suppliers.
Remedial Management
After the strategic partnership with doValue SpA and the smooth transition to the new operating model for remedial management, the Group implements its NPE Strategy Plan through doValue Greece for the assigned portfolio and successful securitisation transactions. The NPE strategy lays out the Bank’s approach and objectives regarding the effective management (i.e. maximised recoveries) and reduction in NPE stock in a clear, credible and feasible manner for each portfolio.
In this respect, in March 2024, the Group submitted its NPE Management Strategy for 2024-2026, along with the annual NPE stock targets at both Bank and Group level.
According to the plan, the Group NPE ratio is expected to drop from 3.5% in FY 2023 (actual figure) to 3.2% in 2026.
Debt Collection Policy
Remedial management encompasses a range of policies and strategies, including the collection of early arrears loans starting from the 12th delinquent day of each month, in accordance with the current legislation.
In the Retail portfolio, a micro-segmentation approach has been developed to facilitate collections, with all relevant channels (including the branch network) heavily involved in achieving specific monthly collection targets. To prioritise collections, decision trees are used daily to identify the most critical sub-segments for achieving the NPE reduction targets. Prioritisation is used to differentiate between the effort applied from the part of remedial channels and the script used during communication with the customers.
doValue employees that manage the ERB portfolio are duly trained in the Bank’s product features, policy and procedures, as well as in debt collection techniques.
Special communication scenarios adapted to the strategy/segmentation are applied, aiming at proper communication, quality management and customer service for all retail products, and at informing customers about their rights and obligations.
Customer communication is personalised and highlights the benefits of repaying overdue amounts on time and the consequences of payment delays.
In the Corporate portfolio, dedicated relationship managers continually monitor any delinquencies and take appropriate action as needed.
Retail Remedial Management Actions
As regards the Remedial Management for Retail (mortgages, consumer loans, SBB and professionals), the Bank proceeded with the following strategic and operational actions in 2023:
- Over-achieved its NPE reduction target steadily and consistently.
- Performed a robust collection performance in 2023 and greatly contained the NPE inflow.
- Continued to enrich collection strategies, aiming at reducing the default rate of new modifications and optimising the management administration cost per borrower segment, based on their risk profile and payment history.
- Fully redesigned the Bank’s restructuring policy for distressed debtors.
- Streamlined legal process for secured denounced loans (new legal operational KPIs agreed with the Servicer to be closely monitored in 2024) to ensure timely execution of legal enforcements.
Furthermore, the held-for-sale transaction in YE2023 combined with the sales planned within 2024 (project Leon, around €650 million in total) will drastically reduce the remaining NPE stock in mid/late arrears.
Corporate Remedial Management Actions
As regards the Remedial Management for Corporate, the Bank proceeded with the following strategic and operational actions in 2023:
- Maintained a focused restructuring strategy on sustainable long-term modifications.
- Continued monitoring the NPE inflows-outflows, with a view to substantially reducing NPEs.
- Closely monitored the assigned and securitised portfolio of SMEs managed by doValue Greece, to implement a more effective NPE target reduction strategy.
In addition, the 2023 organic performance (NPE formation) outperformed the target steadily and consistently.