Alexis Pantazis and Emilios Markou are pursuing the expansion through HD Solutions, a newly incorporated company with €5 million in initial capital that is seeking authorization from the Bank of Greece to operate as a specialist credit provider.
The venture would take the two entrepreneurs beyond the insurance business they have built over the past decade and into an area of Greece’s financial system where independent competition remains limited. Unlike a bank, HD Solutions wouldn’t be allowed to take deposits. But, subject to regulatory approval, it could extend loans to consumers and businesses.
The company’s articles of association state that its immediate purpose is to prepare for licensing as a credit provider under Greek banking law. The distinction is significant in the local market: Greece currently has no active company operating under that specific regulatory framework.
The application has been under review for some time. According to people familiar with the matter, the relevant documentation was submitted to the Bank of Greece roughly a year ago and the company is awaiting completion of the licensing process. Until then, HD Solutions can prepare its operations, develop commercial partnerships and carry out other permitted activities related to its eventual launch.
The expansion into credit would bring Pantazis and Markou closer to their professional roots. Both worked in international investment banking before founding Hellas Direct.
Pantazis, a co-founder and executive director of the insurer, previously worked at Goldman Sachs, where he was involved in principal investing and the development of strategic initiatives within the firm’s European investment-management business.
Markou, also a co-founder and executive director, was previously a director in Barclays Capital’s European Financial Institutions Structuring team and, before that, an executive director in investment banking at Goldman Sachs.
That background could prove useful as the two founders move into a business where underwriting discipline and funding strategy are as important as technology and customer acquisition.
HD Solutions was established with €5 million in share capital, divided into one million shares with a nominal value of €5 each. The entire initial capital was subscribed by Cyprus-based HD Insurance Plc, which is the company’s sole founding shareholder.
The composition of the board suggests that the founders are also putting an early emphasis on financial-sector experience and regulatory credibility.
Xanthos Vrachas has been appointed chairman and independent nonexecutive director. He previously served as chief executive of PQH, the company responsible for the special liquidation of failed and defunct financial institutions in Greece. He has also been chief financial officer and chief investment officer at Universal Life, an insurance group, and served on the board of Bank of Cyprus in 2013 and 2014. Earlier in his career, he worked in investment banking at Merrill Lynch in London and at Deloitte & Touche in the U.S.
HD Solutions will be led operationally by Chief Executive Giorgos Paglas, a Hellas Direct executive with a background in banking, including experience at Cyprus-based Ancoria Bank. Ioannis Hartoutsiou serves as an executive board member, while Pantazis and Markou are nonexecutive directors. Niki Maria Goulimi also sits on the board as a nonexecutive member.
If the Bank of Greece grants the license, HD Solutions could potentially operate across a broad range of lending activities. Depending on the business model it ultimately adopts, those could include consumer and personal loans, mortgages, business financing and the refinancing of existing debt.
Its approach is expected to be heavily digital, an extension of the technology-driven model Hellas Direct has used in insurance. Applications could be submitted online, customers identified remotely and creditworthiness assessed through automated systems, allowing loans to be processed with less paperwork and potentially faster than through conventional channels.
The company could also explore fully digital financing products and embedded finance, in which a loan or other form of credit is offered directly as part of the purchase of a product or service.
Perhaps the most strategically significant opportunity would be to connect HD Solutions with the broader Hellas Direct digital ecosystem. That could allow the group to offer insurance and financing to the same customer through a single platform, expanding its relationship with policyholders and potentially lowering the cost of acquiring borrowers.
