During the 100 and more years of its history, the Laiki Group evolved from a small savings bank into a vigorous financial organisation of international character and repute and with a strong presence in the social and cultural life of the country.
Laiki Group offers a wide range of financial services which includes, apart from banking services, hire-purchase finance, life and general insurance, factoring, leasing, capital management, stock exchange services and financial investment services.
One of the basic pillars of the policy of the Group is the further internationalisation of its operations. The expansion into Serbia through the purchase of Centrobanka a.d., which has been renamed Laiki Bank a.d., marks the broadening and expansion of the policy which the Group has pursued till now, namely to operate full banking units in countries where there is a strong Greek and Cypriot presence.
The focal point of the development policy of the Group remains Greece where it has been active since 1992 through Laiki Bank (Hellas) S.A. The presence of the Group in Greece is being strengthened and the rates of growth and expansion are being accelerated. In the other countries where the Group has been operating successfully for years, such as England and Australia, special emphasis will be given to the sectors of private banking and capital management. An important development for the international expansion of the Group was the founding of the new bank on Guernsey, in the Channel Islands, in 2005.
The change in the composition of the share capital of Laiki Bank in 2006, with the acquisition of a strategic share by the Marfin Group and the investment fund Tosca Fund, after the decision of HSBC to sell its share of the share capital of the Bank, adds a new dimension and dynamism to the future course of the Group in the global environment.
