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El. Vrettou: At Piraeus Bank we seek a change of culture for our organization

The Recovery Fund will give further impetus to companies, especially smaller ones, to adopt the ESG principles, through which sustainable development is promoted, said Ms. Eleni Vrettou, Senior General Manager, Head of Corporate & Investment Banking of Piraeus Bank, speaking at the conference of the Hellenic American Chamber “Redefining Growth for a Sustainable and Inclusive Future”.

In the discussion on “Green Financing: The ESG Criteria”, Ms. Brettou referred to the different degree of response that Greek companies have in relation to the necessary transition to the adoption of environmental, social and corporate governance principles. As a minimum of business familiarity is required, even in relation to what ESG means to them in the short and long term, businesses fall into three categories:

– the largest ones that are listed or have bonds listed on the stock exchange, which have realized the need for a faster transition due to the investors they have.

– the medium-sized companies that are now making their transition, are informed, learn, turn to the bank for guidance, which with the financial incentives offered by Piraeus through the loan agreements are pushed to accelerate their transition,

– the very small companies that are still cautious and expect the necessary impetus to be given by the Recovery Fund and other Community resources related to the green transition while there are already programs such as Saving – Business that give financial incentives.

As Ms. Brettou pointed out, “every time the bank has announced financing linked to sustainability indicators, in small and medium-sized enterprises, or shipping or in the past in industry and RES, we have had a flurry of phone calls from our customers asking and wanting to know more. with the aim of being their next company to work with us in this context, and this gives me hope that we are really helping the development, along with the environmental awareness, having already stood out as a bank in it “.

Piraeus Bank is the first bank in Greece to provide financing with ESG features and environmental sustainability clauses in sectors, from energy and industry to most recently shipping, proving in practice its commitment to promoting a cyclically sustainable economy.

Answering a question about the 500 million euro green bond recently issued by Piraeus Bank, Ms. Brettou noted that green bonds are a great opportunity for both investors and issuers to promote healthy and sustainable growth. From the trial version made in 2007 by the European Investment Bank, this market is expected to reach 1 trillion. at the end of the year, with a recent milestone of 14 billion euros issued by the EU, and with a growing involvement of banks and businesses, as well as investors from around the world.

“The recent bond issued by Piraeus Bank was an extremely successful issue with a particularly high interest from investors, as evidenced by the total orders exceeding 850 million euros and more than 70 investors. This success pushes us to accelerate and strengthen “Our actions for the implementation of our climate strategy”, said Ms. Brettou, emphasizing that for Piraeus it is a key pillar of the strategy to focus on green financing, helping to achieve climate neutrality, national goals by 2030 and its de-ligation country.

Piraeus Bank is the undisputed market leader in RES financing, having financed about 40% of the country’s installed capacity, with a portfolio approaching 3 billion euros, not including investments that are currently under contract and have not yet disbursed.

We have a specific action plan, according to which by 2023 we will have fully integrated environmental risks as a guide and measurement in all operations and to this end, institutional changes have been made with the participation of all units of the Bank and Systematic monitoring of all relevant indicators, stressed Ms. Brettou and stressed that for Piraeus Bank, this is not a supervisory obligation, but a desire and one way for our future.

Source: AMPE

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Source From: Capital

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