FIMBank to enter Greek market
10.10.2014
FIMBank, the Malta-based trade finance specialist, has announced that it is entering the Greek market and will be providing a comprehensive range of trade finance and banking solutions, targeting corporate clients, focusing on International as well as domestic trade. The Bank will be opening a branch in Athens and has engaged a team of professionals, all of whom have first-hand experience of the Greek corporate banking and commercial finance sector. The Hellenic Branch will be headed by Demetris Zouzoukis.
Demetris Zouzoukis boasts extensive experience in managing forfaiting and factoring operations, including five years at Eurobank Factors S.A. (a member of the Eurobank Group) as Forfaiting & International Projects Manager, and another six year stint at Marfin Factors and Forfaiters S.A. (Member of CPB Group), where he served as Deputy General Manager and Head of Forfaiting, as well as a member of the Board of Directors. Zouzoukis, who holds a MSc. in Finance from the University of Leicester in the UK, has also served as an Executive Board member of the International Forfaiting Association (IFA) for the past five years.
Demetris Zouzoukis has on his team three colleagues with a strong background in the commercial finance field, George Goumassis, Michael Michaelides and Kostas Georgakopoulos. Goumassis has 17 years’ experience in the Greek factoring market, having occupied the post of Deputy General Manager and Head of International Factoring at Marfin Factors & Forfaiters SA. Prior to that, he was employed as International Factoring Manager at Eurobank Factors. Michaelides, on the other hand, has ten years’ experience in credit appraisal and credit control in the Factoring industry, serving as Credit Manager at Marfin Factors & Forfaiters and as Senior Credit Officer at Eurobank Factors. Georgakopoulos has spent the last ten years managing factoring relationships, having occupied the post of Deputy Manager of Domestic Factoring at Marfin Factors & Forfaiters for six years, an experience which followed a four-year period at Eurobank Factors as Head of Buyer Relations & Collections.
Commenting on FIMBank’s strategic plan for Greece, FIMBank Group President Margrith Lütschg Emmenegger explained that the development was prompted by the potential to provide alternative financing solutions within the Greek market, in order to bridge current limitations being faced by businesses. “FIMBank’s presence in the Greek market will enable it to provide forfaiting, factoring and other alternative trade finance solutions in support of Greek companies during these challenging times. We are confident that the comprehensive technical know-how and business acumen of the team we have set up in Greece, led by Demetris Zouzoukis, will translate into a very positive experience for FIMBank in this market”.
