At their next meetings, the Boards of Directors of Marfin Financial Group and Laiki Bank are expected to deal with “strategic issues for the future”, Marfin Deputy Chairman, Andreas Vgenopoulos told StockWatch. Invited to comment on the Greek press reports that the Boards of Marfin and Laiki will take the final decisions on the model they will adopt in Laiki – Marfin – Egnatia merger, Mr. Vgenopoulos did not reveal much. “I do not confirm or deny anything. The only thing I can tell is that the final decisions will be taken by the end of September”, Mr. Vgenopoulos stated.

Marfin’s meeting will also be attended by the Chairman of the Group – head of Dubai Investment, Soud Ba’alawy.

Head office

According to Greek reports, the head office of the new organization will be in Nicosia or Dubai, although Athens should not be excluded from the plan.

Size

The merger procedure will start on December 31, 2006 and includes the absorbance of operations of Laiki (Hellas) and Marfin by Egnatia. The completion of the merger is subject to the Greek and Cypriot supervisory authorities’ approval and the General Meetings of the Banks in the first quarter of 2007.

The new Bank is expected to have assets of €8.2 billion, deposits of €6.2 billion, loans of €5.8 billion and a network of 140 branches.