GEORGE ZAVVOS

Deputy Minister of Finance responsible for the Financial System (appointed in July 2019)

Mr. Zavvos is the Deputy Minister of Finance in charge of the banking, securities and private insurance sectors. Being in charge of the reforms in these areas he launched and implemented the Hercules Asset Protection Scheme, a systemic solution for the reduction of NPLs. He also introduced the reforms on corporate governance and the capital markets.

George Zavvos served at the European institutions for over 30 years as a Member of the European Parliament (M.E.P.), European Commission Ambassador and Legal Adviser at the Legal Service of the European Commission.

Between 1990 – 1994 he was elected as Member of the European Parliament (M.E.P.) where he was member of the Legal and Citizens’ Rights Committee [Rapporteur on the Directive on capital adequacy of banks and investment firms and on the Directive on the freedom of management and investment of funds held by institutions for retirement provision] and the Budgetary Control Committee [EP Rapporteur on EIB and EBRD; member of the Joint Committee of the EU Parliament and the US Congress. He was also Chairman of the Committee for the Reform of the Greek Banking System which introduced the Greek Banking Law of 1992 (1991-1993).

Between 1994-1997, Mr. Zavvos was appointed the first European Commission Ambassador and Head of Delegation to the Slovak Republic.

Between 2002 and 2017, Mr. Zavvos was a Legal Adviser at the Legal Service of the European Commission involved in banking and capital markets regulation and reform. He has pled in the EU Court of Justice (EU Supreme Court) over hundred cases. In the 1980s, he worked at the European Commission’s DG for Financial Institutions and Company Law where he was in charge of drafting and negotiating the Second Banking Directive that introduced the passporting for banks in the EU, the cornerstone of EU banking legislation.

The period between 2018 – 2019 Mr Zavvos was Senior Advisor on Economy and Finance at the Center for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Brussels.

Mr. Zavvos was Professor at the Solvay Business School (ULB) (1991-1993) and Visiting Professor at Queen Mary, University of London (2004-2007).  He holds a Bachelor of Laws from Athens University and a postgraduate Degree on EU Law from the College of Europe (Bruges). He has written and lectured extensively on EU banking and financial services law matters. He is Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Economics in Bratislava (2004) and has been awarded the Double Cross of the Slovak Republic.

Contact info: telephone number: +30 210 3332492, 210 3332493, 210 3332496 email: yfyp-secr@minfin.gr