The Cooperative Bank of Karditsa was founded in 1994 as an initiative of the Karditsa Chamber of Commerce, and in 1996 it opened its first branch in the city, in the central square. Today, it operates seven branches across Thessaly and employs 85 staff members. Its CEO, Panagiotis Tournavitis, explains why the bank is cooperative not only in name but also in the way it operates, and why he believes this model is effective.
Let’s start with a brief history of the Cooperative Bank of Karditsa. How was it established?
Our bank began as a credit cooperative in 1994. It was created out of the need for a financial institution that could mobilise local savings and create the necessary conditions for local development, stand by local businesses, and support the financing of their investment plans.
The initiative came from the Karditsa Chamber of Commerce, under its president Antonis Palaskas, who served as the bank’s founding president until 2011. He was succeeded by the current president, Giorgos Boukis, who was also a member of the Chamber’s administration when the idea of establishing a cooperative bank first emerged.
Throughout these years, we have had a very strong leadership that has remained committed to the bank’s original purpose. A culture has developed that continues to be grounded in the foundations laid 31 years ago.
Where does the bank stand today?
Today, the bank has grown significantly and evolved. We are a modern, fully developed bank in terms of products and services, supervised by the Bank of Greece. We operate a network of seven branches across the Thessaly region, most of them located in the city of Karditsa. Our total assets are approaching €300 million, and we employ 85 people.
Our strategy is consistent: we support healthy entrepreneurship with all our resources, focusing on small businesses, the primary sector, farmers and livestock breeders. Beyond mobilising local savings, we achieve this through partnerships with institutions such as the European Investment Fund, the European Investment Bank and the Council of Europe Development Bank. Through these collaborations, we access both expertise and capital, which we then transform into financial products for our clients.
We maintain some of the strongest capital adequacy and liquidity ratios, not only within the Greek banking system but also at the European level. We are a widely held bank, with no dominant shareholder but rather 16,500 small shareholders. This means that we remain a cooperative bank at our core. Our largest shareholder is a Belgian fund, Helenos, which holds a 2.5% stake. This is not a typical investment fund but a consortium of institutional actors, including the European Investment Bank and major European financial and insurance organisations. They invested in us precisely to ensure that we remain a cooperative bank, close to the local community and to the field of the social economy.
You strongly emphasize the cooperative character of the bank. Does this cooperative philosophy stem solely from what is happening in the local community, or is it a two-way process?
The cooperative character of the bank is certainly embedded in our DNA. But it is not just a matter of historical origins or an attachment to a particular legal form. It has to do with the philosophy and culture we uphold as an organisation and as a management team. We believe that this model can be efficient, productive and useful, and we demonstrate this in practice every day. So, it is not something rigid that comes from the past. It is a lens through which we envision a better future.
In Karditsa, in addition to the organizations involved in the Social Solidarity Economy, there are other similar, informal activities. Do you believe there is an ecosystem that is active, functioning, and growing, even with its challenges?
There are undoubtedly two very strong pillars in Karditsa that enable initiatives to grow and succeed, even where similar efforts elsewhere might struggle. One is the Cooperative Bank of Karditsa, which serves as the financial pillar. The other is the Development Agency of Karditsa, in which we participate as the second-largest shareholder. These two pillars effectively support the entire ecosystem, what we refer to as the social economy and cooperative initiatives. These initiatives succeed in our region precisely because they rest on very solid foundations and have a supportive environment in which to develop.
I would say that what makes our region distinctive is the close collaboration among all actors. We support one another. No one follows an isolated strategy. Regardless of each organisation’s specific priorities, we try to find common ground.
What are your expectations for the coming years?
We have developed a growth-oriented business plan up to 2027, focusing on expanding our presence across the wider Thessaly region. For this reason, we have opened new branches in Larisa and Volos, and we plan to expand into additional areas. We are doing this because we see that cooperative initiatives generate tangible results in our region, and we believe that we can transfer this philosophy and these characteristics to other regions as well.
We always aim to play a useful role. We can contribute to the development of healthy entrepreneurship in each area and help it grow further.
For us, the concept of “regional development” is not an empty phrase. It is something we strongly support, because we understand that the only way to retain or attract more people to the regions is to create the right investment opportunities. In this way, those who wish to can come here, start businesses and build a better life than the one they had before.
If we are to have a role, it is to be useful in this effort for regional development. Within this framework, we have submitted proposals and undertaken relevant initiatives. We are also working in cooperation with the Region of Thessaly, which actively supports this effort.
By 2027, what I would like us to have achieved is the creation of an integrated system of support mechanisms, with the bank as one of its components, so that the field of healthy entrepreneurship has real options to develop even further.