CFI.co Meets the CEO of Cyprus Cooperative Bank: Nicholas Hadjiyiannis

Nicholas Hadjiyiannis holds a degree in Quantity Surveying from the University of Reading, UK, and a Master’s in Shipping Trade and Finance from City University Business School in London.

He holds more than twenty years of extensive international banking and financial professional experience, starting his career in 1995 as an investment analyst in London. He moved into the field of investment advisory and private banking with Bank of Cyprus, Athens, for two years, continuing thereafter with a ten-year career at Merrill Lynch, in both Athens and London, and BNP Paribas in Cyprus and Geneva. He returned to Cyprus with his family in 2007 to take up a job with Cyprus Popular Bank, leaving in the summer of 2013 from a position of divisional manager Wealth Management.

Mr Hadjiyiannis moved into the private sector in the field of family office services for international private clients while in November 2013 he was appointed member of the board of directors of the Cooperative Central Bank (CCB) Cyprus. He was elected chairman of the board serving successfully for two years. In December 2015, he was appointed CEO of the bank.

He is a fellow member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (FRICS) UK and was certified by the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). He also holds professional investment advising licenses from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).

Mr Hadjiyiannis lectured on the topics of finance and investments at the American College in Athens, the University of Nicosia, and the European University in Cyprus. He is a member of the board of directors of the Cyprus Employers and Industrialists Federation, President of the Cyprus Institute of Financial Services, an executive member of the board of directors of the European Association of Cooperative Banks in Brussels, and vice chairman of the Cyprus Banks Association. He is a member of the advisory board of Postgraduate Studies at the Costas Grammenos Centre for Shipping, Trade, and Finance of City University Business School in London.

Mr Hadjiyiannis said that, “We are trying to build on the traditional values of the Cyprus Cooperative Bank, which actually are the traditional values of our society, in order to stay close to the people and try to respond to their needs regarding banking services. So, we are looking to offer holistic banking services in a simple and responsible way. We are transforming this 108 years of cooperative history and culture into a modern, local, competitive and, responsible bank.”

Commenting the NPL issue, Mr Hadjiyiannis said: “We set up a strategic cooperation with Altamira Asset Management, one of the biggest players in the Eurozone. It is a specialized NPL service company that has worked alongside the Spanish Banco Santander, BBVA, and others in dealing with this problem. We created Altamira Asset Management (Cyprus) to take over the management of the NPLs.”

“We are confident that through this strategic cooperation we will on-board international expertise and practices from more developed banking systems and economies that dealt successfully with these challenges. This will allow us to set aside legacy issues and step forward with a clean balance sheet, focusing exclusively with growing the bank, funding the economy, and providing an attractive return on equity to our shareholders. This will assist in unlocking our potential as the biggest retail bank in the country supporting our move into mainstream retail banking.”