Alpha Bank

First years

Ioannis F. Kostopoulos, a textile merchant from Sperhogeia in Messinia, founded a commercial shop in 1882 in Kalamata and in 1885 he started to be active in foreign exchange trading. In 1916 the trading house was transformed into a bank under the "Bank I. F. Kostopoulos" with the participation of Laiki Bank of Dionysios Loverdos. In 1918 the bank was transformed from a limited partnership into a joint-stock company called "Bank of Kalamata.

After the death of Ioannis F. Kostopoulos, the reins of the bank were taken over initially by Spyros Kostopoulos and then by Dimitrios Kostopoulos, who in 1923 merged the banking division of the commercial house "Ioannis F. Kostopoulos" with the Bank of Kalamon, creating the "Bank of Hellenic Commercial Credit" based in Athens. On 2 November 1925 the bank was listed on the Athens Stock Exchange and in 1932 the bank moved to a privately owned building on

Stadiou and Pezmazoglou streets.

The economic crisis of 1929 forced the "Bank of Hellenic Commercial Credit" to reduce its network of branches and to seek financing from the National Bank of Greece, which now appointed a representative to its board of directors. Dimitris Kostopoulos was succeeded in the leadership of the bank by his sons Spyros and Stavros Kostopoulos.

The war period that would follow would lead the bank to a dead end, which would liquidate almost all its assets. The board of directors will even call an extraordinary general meeting on 19 December 1944 to dissolve the company. The dissolution would not take place due to the events of Dekemvriana and after the Treaty of Varkiza the decision of the directors would be revised.