Emporiki Bank

The Commercial Bank of Greece (Greek: Εμπορική Τράπεζα της Ελλάδας, thus also known as Emporiki Bank) was a bank established in London in 1907, with an initial focus on activity in Greece. In 1922, its operations expanded geographically through its affiliate the Commercial Bank of the Near East. The bank was nationalized in 1975 amid political and economic changes in Greece.

In 2006, it was privatized and acquired by the French banking group Crédit Agricole, which gradually increased its ownership to 95% and delisted the bank from the Athens Stock Exchange in 2011.

Crédit Agricole retained Emporiki’s international subsidiaries in Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania, integrating and later rebranding them under its own brand. Facing significant losses during the Greek financial crisis, Crédit Agricole sold Emporiki’s Greek operations to Alpha Bank in October 2012 for the symbolic price of €1. The legal merger was completed on 28 February 2013, when Emporiki ceased to exist as a separate entity and was fully absorbed into Alpha Bank’s network.