Events

Regional financial centres: pathways for Greece and Cyprus

Hosted by the Hellenic Observatory Centre for Research on Contemporary Greece and Cyprus

Online, United Kingdom

Speakers

Nikolaos Karamouzis

Nikolaos Karamouzis

Charlotte Ruhe

Charlotte Ruhe

Michael Sarris

Michael Sarris

Dr Apostolos Thomadakis

Dr Apostolos Thomadakis

Chair

Professor Vassilis Monastiriotis

Professor Vassilis Monastiriotis

Moderator

Professor Vassilis Monastiriotis

Professor Anthony Bartzokas

After a long adjustment process, financial systems in Greece and Cyprus have gradually regained credibility and are actively participating in international financial markets.

In previous episodes, asset acquisition and client support networking have been the preferred modalities for internationalisation. In the meantime, the external environment has changed in terms of technical infrastructure, regulatory requirements, and the increasing role of non-banking entities. Furthermore, the normalisation of monetary policy in the EU and the integration process of European capital markets provide two additional layers of complexity in market conditions and call for new paths of engagement. Considering these trends, this event will bring together experienced market participants and renowned experts for a debate on options available derived from the experience of regional financial centres and business model guidelines for a new phase of financial systems internationalisation in Greece and Cyprus.

Meet our speaker and chair 

Nikolaos Karamouzis is Executive Chairman of SMERemediumCap, Chairman of Grant Thornton, Greece and BoD Member of Eurobank Private Bank Luxembourg S.A. He holds the position of Member of the BoD of Onassis Foundation and QUEST Holdings. He is also Member of the Advisory Board of diaNEOsis and Member of the Advisory Committee of ELIAMEP. He holds the position of Emeritus Professor, University of Piraeus in Greece. He holds a Bachelor Degree in Economics, University of Piraeus, Master Degree in Economics, American University, USA and Ph.D. in Economics with specialization in Monetary Policy and International Finance, Pennsylvania State University, USA.

Charlotte Ruhe is EBRD’s Managing Director for Central and South Eastern Europe, responsible for delivery of business and policy reform in 18 countries from Poland and the Baltic States to Greece. Central and South East Europe includes the Western Balkans and all EU countries of operation of the Bank, and accounts for more than one third of EBRD’s business. She was previously Director, SME Finance and Development, providing finance and advice to SMEs across 26 EBRD countries of operation. Charlotte served as Director for Croatia in Zagreb from 2005 to 2010. Prior to that she led the EU-EBRD SME Finance Facility as a Senior Banker in the Financial Institutions Team. Charlotte joined the EBRD as Advisor to the Director for the United States in 1992, and in 1995 moved to the Financial Institutions Team where she worked on debt and equity transactions in the Baltic States, Central Europe, Georgia and Uzbekistan. She began her career at the US Department of the Treasury as an international economist, and has an MA in International Economics from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a BA in Journalism and Political Science from Indiana University.

Michael Sarris holds a Doctorate in Economics. From 1972 to 1975 he worked at the Central Bank of Cyprus and the Bank of Cyprus. In 1975, he joined the World Bank from where he retired in 2005 as a Department Director. In September 2005, he was appointed Minister of Finance, serving until the change in government in March 2008.  From January to August 2012, he was Chairman of the Board of Directors of Marfin Popular Bank, and in March 2013 became again Minister of Finance for a brief period to negotiate Cyprus’s adjustment program. He is now Chairman of the Board of Directors of AstroBank.

Dr Apostolos Thomadakis is Head of Research at the European Capital Markets Institute (ECMI) and Research Fellow in the Financial Markets and Institutions Unit at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS). He has (co)-authored studies and coordinated projects on issues related to capital markets, CMU, access to capital and SMEs financing, derivatives and CCPs, financial instruments, financial and securities regulation, and banking supervision. Prior to joining CEPS he was a Visiting Scholar at the Bank of Lithuania and the Austrian National Bank, while he worked for the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Central Bank (ECB). Apostolos has held academic positions at the University of Warwick, London School of Economics, the University of Bath, and the University of Surrey, where he taught courses on finance, derivatives, and econometrics. He holds a PhD in Economics and an MSc in Business Economics and Finance from the University of Surrey and a BSc in Physics from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

Anthony Bartzokas is Professorial Fellow at the United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology, Visiting Professor in Practice at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a Professor at the University of Athens with extensive experience in academia, policy relevant research and real-life exposure to investment decisions, innovation dynamics and financial markets as a former European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Board Member. During his fellowship at LSE, Prof Bartzokas is working on three projects: (a) The political economy of macroeconomic adjustment (the case of Greece), (b) Regional economic corridors in South East Europe and (c) Financial Innovation and Multilateral Development Banks.

Vassilis Monastiriotis is the Hellenic Observatory Centre Director, Eleftherios Venizelos Chair of Contemporary Greek Studies and Professor in Political Economy.  

Slides

The introductory presentation slides are available to download here.

Panel Report

Read the panel report here.

Podcast and Video

You can listen to the podcast here.

You can watch the video here.

More about this event

The Hellenic Observatory (@HO_LSE) is internationally recognised as one of the premier research centres on contemporary Greece and Cyprus. It engages in a range of activities, including developing and supporting academic and policy-related research; organisation of conferences, seminars and workshops; academic exchange through visiting fellowships and internships; as well as teaching at the graduate level through LSE's European Institute.

The twitter Hashtag for this event is: #LSEGreece

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