Giorgos Vardinogiannis dies at 90; Cyprus bank agreement finalised as shipping outreach targets Japan
Greek shipowner Giorgos Vardinogiannis has died aged 90, while Etyk reports a completed Cyprus banking deal and Cyprus promotes its shipping flag in Tokyo.
Athens, Greece. Giorgos Vardinogiannis, the Greek shipowner whose family’s shipping and energy businesses reached into Cyprus, died on Friday at 90 after a brief hospital stay. He had led Panathinaikos as president for nearly 21 years.
A career spanning shipping and football
Nicknamed the “Captain”, Vardinogiannis started his working life at sea and held a board seat at the Union of Greek Shipowners for two terms. His stewardship of the Athens football club brought him wider public recognition.
He was born in 1936 in Episkopi, Rethymno, to Giannis Vardinogiannis and Chrysi Theodoroulaki, and was one of their ten children. After studying at a merchant navy college in Southampton, he worked on merchant vessels.
His brothers Nikos and Vardis entered business following service in the Greek navy. Other relatives followed paths in shipping and politics.
The family’s commercial activities centred on shipping, marine fuel and oil refining. An early undertaking was SEKA, set up in 1963 at Kaloi Limenes in southern Crete with Mobil and Aristotle Onassis, providing fuel for ships using eastern Mediterranean routes. Nikos also established Varnima, whose activities included shipping and hotels.
Etyk reports completion of banking agreement
Banking union Etyk said this week that the agreement between Bank of Cyprus (BoC) and Cyprus Development Bank Group (CDB) had been finalised. It said negotiations had lifted the voluntary retirement payment cap to €350,000 and ensured that employees wishing to remain would transfer.
In its October 15 statement, Etyk attributed the increase from the original €200,000 ceiling to its intervention. The union described the resulting package as more generous than any previously offered to banking employees.
According to Etyk, BoC originally planned to purchase CDB’s banking operations without retaining its workforce. Subsequent talks secured its agreement to take on employees who had not chosen voluntary retirement, safeguarding their employment rights and uninterrupted service.
The union said a major deadlock during negotiations had put the transaction at risk, by which point over half of CDB’s employees had departed through the early retirement programme. Etyk subsequently called a general meeting under the chairmanship of honorary president Loizos Hadjicostis while work continued towards terms all parties could accept.
Cyprus seeks closer maritime ties with Japan
Cyprus is intensifying its drive to draw Japanese shipping business, with Shipping Deputy Minister Marina Hadjimanolis holding a Tokyo reception aimed at promoting the Cyprus flag and strengthening links with Japan’s maritime sector.
The Shipping Deputy Ministry said participants included representatives from Japanese maritime and business circles. According to the ministry, the event presented Cyprus as a global shipping hub and outlined the benefits of registering vessels under its flag.
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