For a fourth consecutive year Marfin Popular Bank organized its “benchmark” International Conference on "Commodities, Environment & Climate Change" which took place in Nicosia, Cyprus on 28th of November at Hilton Hotel.

The Conference was addressed by the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism Ms Praxoula Antoniadou who stated the following:

By turning to cleaner fuels and renewable energy, it is created a path which gradually becomes more accessible to development of technology. "He added that "Cyprus, until recently relied almost entirely on imported oil, which impacted the current account, the level of CO2 emissions and very often the rate of inflation." He added that "using commodities in the production procedure has played an important role in both development and climate change. Coal and oil are just two examples."

The CEO of the Group, Mr Efthimios Bouloutas gave the welcome message which stated among others:

«Marfin Popular Bank is proud to host today in this room an international conference of such a high profile which ranks among the top of its kind in Europe. The fact that this conference has been organized by a regional Cypriot-Greek bank, sends a firm message to the markets and reflects the high standards of our financial institution which is committed to invest in the opportunity and the potential of Cyprus, Greece and South East Europe. MarfIn Popular Bank is here today to once again underline:

Our loyalty to our customer base

- Our commitment to continuous innovation and expansion of our services
- Our commitment to a socially and environmentally responsible growth
- Our determination to support the economies of Greece and Cyprus with

initiatives of European caliber and impact like the one today.

This year’s conference brought together an impressive panel of high caliber speaker who attracted approximately 300 attendants. Keynote speaker at the Conference was Dr. Nassim Taleb, academic, philosopher and recognized author of the Best Sellers "Black Swan" and "Fooled by Randomness" who was accompanied by the distinguished speakers:

Lord Nicholas Stern, Chairman of the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics and ex Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of World bank Dr Leo Drollas, Director and Chief Economist of the Centre of Global Energy Studies (CGES).

Dr Michael J. Economides, professor at University of Houston and Chief Editor of Energy Tribune, expert on Energy & Geopolitics.

Mr Jack Devine, President of "The Arkin Group", with a 32-year career at CIA having coordinated a wide range of international operations from high ranked positions in the Agency all over the world.

Dr Nassim Taleb, Distinguished Professor at New York University Poly Institute and experienced options trader with more than 500,000 trading tickets, talked about the role of the “highly unexpected” and the impact of “randomness” from a perspective of the individual, the company or even the State. He said that the discovery of the natural gas fields at the Exclusive Economic Zone of Cyprus was a Black Swan with very high impact (potentially positive) to the economy of Cyprus, he also noticed that the majority of companies are totally unprepared to react at rare events since they usually prepare against event of reasonable possibility to happen. Dr Taleb concluded his speech by elaborating on the theme of his new book on “fragility” (The Bed of Procrustes) and how everyone seeks higher productivity and effectiveness by creating more “fragile” systems thus more vulnerable to shocks at extreme event environments.

Lord Nicholas Stern, talked about the fundamental theory of Climate Change and the impact that it can have at next generations, had a positive approach against the use of nuclear energy under the condition of using modern technology for enhanced security and stated that “green growth” should be the new paradigm for growth at the next booming cycle. He gave an example (as an answer to a question from the CEO of Marfin Popular Bank, E. Boulouta) that a European integrated electricity grid would allow each country to contribute with its optimal alternative energy resources (ie solar energy from the south and wind energy from the north) in a way that could increase electricity trade by 30%.

The Energy Panel that followed under the moderation of Filimon Antonopoulos, had Dr Drollas, Dr Economides and Jack Devine answering a number of critical questions on energy and geopolitics. During the Panel, the audience had the opportunity to express their opinion via a real-time, tele-voting system. Among others Jack Devine said that he expected the relations between Cyprus and Turkey to find common ground on the gas field and improve gradually, he said that he does not think that Israel will try any military operation against Iran in order to prevent the construction of nuclear weapons in the months to come and he added that he expected the GDP growth rate of China to drop in the years to come as it seems unsustainable.

Dr Leo Drollas underlined that the South Eastern Mediterranean Sea not only has natural gas but also a significant amount of oil reserves. He noticed that the oil producing countries have fallen into a “vicious circle” where they need spending to finance growth which implies higher oil prices which eventually hinder growth. He forecasted for prices over 2012 to remain high at the $100 area which can be 10% lower from today’s prices.

Professor Economides stated that there are large reserves of hydrocarbons at the Exclusive Economic Zone of Cyprus but the Cypriot government needs to harry and prepare all necessary committees, procedures and regulatory frames in order to be able to take advantage of them. He was adamant that the “Shale Gas” is one f the most important discoveries of the energy sector and will totally affect the global energy mix in the years to come making natural gas the fuel of the future. He stated that fossil fuels currently are 87% of the energy market and they will continue to be at these rates for the years to come as there is no substitute and there are plenty of resources. He noticed that Cyprus can become a very rich country if they grasp the opportunity of the hydrocarbon findings.

The audience via the real-time televoting system showed their expectation for Cyprus to return to GDP growth rates of 2-3% in the years to come due to the gas findings, they feel as if the relations with Turkey will deteriorate and they voted by 70% that they thing that Climate Change is an existing problem with high impact on future generations and action should be taken sooner rather than later.

The Conference was attended by 300 clients and officers of the Bank from Greece, Cyprus and our International network.

The Conference was Carbon Neutral.