JPMorgan Chase & Co. has extended its global corporate banking business to Greece, the US bank said on Wednesday, appointing Konstantinos Makrydakis as head of global corporate banking for the country with responsibility for both large-cap and mid-cap client coverage. The move forms part of a broader plan to grow the bank's services for companies across Europe, and the lender said it reflected recent growth in the Greek economy. Makrydakis relocates from London to Athens to take up the role. JPMorgan already maintains an investment banking presence in Greece, and the new structure places corporate banking coverage directly in the market for the first time.
The expansion follows a sustained build-out of the bank's global corporate banking division across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where JPMorgan has increased specialist staff by more than 25% over the last two years. The Greek launch was announced internally by Stelios Papadopoulos, senior country officer for Greece, alongside Marcus Hiseman and Stefan Povaly, co-heads of global corporate banking for EMEA. Papadopoulos remains senior country officer covering Greece, Cyprus and Malta. The bank framed the decision as a reflection of its long-term commitment to Greece and of the momentum it identifies in the domestic corporate sector.
SERVICES OFFERED TO GREEK CORPORATES
Through the new presence, JPMorgan plans to make the full range of the group's wholesale banking services available to corporate clients in Greece. These include financing and lending, trade finance and working capital solutions, and hedging tools spanning foreign exchange, interest rates, equities and commodities. Greek companies will also gain access to JPMorgan's global Treasury Services platform, which handles cash management and payments for multinational clients.
The global corporate banking unit is supported by the bank's investment banking franchise, with the stated aim of giving Greek companies a single international banking partner for both domestic operations and the overseas markets into which they expand. JPMorgan says the division serves corporates, institutions and public sector clients, together with their subsidiaries, in more than 40 countries. The emphasis in Greece falls on businesses seeking financing, liquidity management solutions and access to international capital markets.
LEADERSHIP AND REPORTING STRUCTURE
Makrydakis has spent more than a decade at JPMorgan across several areas of international banking. He previously worked in EMEA credit risk, where his responsibilities included coverage of Greek financial institutions clients, and in corporate banking roles in London and New York. He was also a member of the founding team that established the bank's UK mid-cap corporate banking business in 2019. In his Athens role he will report to Juanma Torres, head of large-cap corporate banking for Iberia, and to Marco Mariano, head of mid-cap corporate banking for Italy.
The timing places JPMorgan's expansion against a backdrop of improving external perceptions of the Greek market following the country's recovery from its debt crisis and its return to investment grade. Attention will centre on whether other international lenders follow with dedicated corporate banking coverage in Athens, and on how quickly JPMorgan converts its existing investment banking relationships into lending, treasury and hedging mandates. The bank did not disclose headcount targets, revenue objectives or a timetable for the Greek operation.