EFG Eurobank and Deutsche Bank offer new generation of mutual funds.
EFG Eurobank has established and is now offering on the Greek market a complete new generation of pioneering investment products to cover a wide range of investment options in Greek and foreign markets.The first step is the formation of a “family” of six new mutual funds, to be managed by EFG Mutual Fund Management Company S.A. in collaboration with Deutsche Bank. These new mutual funds, the first products of collaboration between EFG Eurobank and the German banking group in the field of the provision of new financial products to Greek investors and savers, stand out for their innovative approach to management, and introduce the idea of cost-free investment for the first time. Investors who wish to invest in these products, or to shift their funds from one product to another, will pay no entrance commission. Nor will they be charged buy-out fees if they liquidate their investments after two years have elapsed.The new mutual funds were presented by Eurobank CEO Nikolaos Nanopoulos, Byron Ballis, Chairman of EFG Mutual Fund Management S.A. and EFG Eurobank General Manager, Retail Banking, Professor Spyros Makrydakis of the University of Piraeus and INSEAD, Ines Wilkens, senior executive of DMS (the Deutsche Bank Mutual Fund Management Company), and Aris Xenofos, General Manager of EFG Mutual Fund Management SA. Two of the new mutual funds are oriented towards the Greek stock market, two towards the international stock market, one towards the Greek bond market and one to all these markets together. The management of the mutual funds in Greece will be the task of EFG Mutual Fund Management SA, in collaboration with a team of university staff and researchers led by Professor S. Makrydakis. The team has already developed mathematical management models, based on a range of quantitative and qualitative data, thus singling out the shares most fully representative of the values of the Greek economy. Correspondingly, investments directed towards the international markets will be managed by Deutsche Bank through Deutsche Asset Management Europe (DAM), which occupies a leading position in the European market, managing investment capital of a total value of 158.8 billion euros, and making its presence felt in all the European and international markets. These investment products have been selected and established on the basis of a series of criteria and subsequent to a study of developments and trends in the Greek and foreign markets, including:

• forthcoming Greek membership of the euro zone, which will significantly reduce interest rates on deposits
• the need to offer Greek investors new forms of investment which will provide better returns at lower risk
• the development of new technologies and information technology, which, in conjunction with developments in the capital markets, have led to the development of advanced models for investment management
• the shift in preferences towards stock investment instruments and the intense interest which investors are displaying in modern sectors of the economy and new markets
• the provision of alternative investment options across a wide field involving both the Greek and international markets
• the need for investors to have confidence in specialised organisations that can manage their funds in a responsible manner and according to their special requirements.

A more detailed profile of the new mutual funds is as follows: 1. Eurobank Value Index This is a domestic-share mutual fund that differs from the other mutual funds in its application of a particular management model combining scientific methodology with empirical knowledge of the stock market. Selection of shares is not based on one or two variables but involves a whole series of qualitative indicators from which the manager can obtain, on a daily basis, the information he or she requires about shares traded on the Athens Stock Market, complying with the criteria. 2. Eurobank Genesis This, too, is a Greek shares mutual fund, investing in new, small, dynamic and up-and-coming firms whose shares are traded on the Athens Stock Market, and soon on the New Stock Market, and which operate in dynamic sectors of the Greek economy. The fund will also examine and select the shares of recently listed companies. 3. Eurobank Global Top 50 This international shares mutual fund invests in the 50 largest and most reliable firms at international level, taking specific qualitative criteria into consideration (management, position within the industry, economic data, production techniques, product). Such companies reflect the five 'mega-trends' in the global economic environment: population increase, energy, communications, standard of living and ageing of the population. Deutsche Bank has already placed this product on the German and other international markets and it has been extremely successful. Today, it manages 4.5 billion euros, and its yield since January 1997 has been of the order of 116 per cent. 4. Eurobank New Market World This is a specialised international share mutual fund which breaks new ground by Greek standards and invests in the new financial markets of Europe, the United States and Japan. In these markets, investments are directed towards new and dynamic enterprises operating in leading-edge fields such as the Internet, information technology, biomedicine and services with excellent prospects for development and results. 5. Eurobank International Composite This is a composite mutual fund which spreads the capital available across securities traded on the capital and money markets in Greece and other countries. 6. Eurobank Bond Fund
A domestic-bonds mutual fund which invests primarily in medium- and long-term bonds and, to a lesser extent, money market instruments. It is addressed to investors who wish to combine security with satisfactory performance.