Minos Zombanakis: Banker without borders

Minos Zombanakis was one of the great financial innovators of his age, leading the wave of change which transformed the banking world in the latter part of the 20th century. His major contribution was a new type of loan which enabled banks to club together across borders to lend large sums of money to corporations and countries, the so-called syndicated loan. Although this market proved controversial because of the huge size it eventually reached, it channeled finance to scores of new borrowers, particularly in the Third World, and provided a powerful stimulus to world economic growth.

James Wolfensohn, former president of the World Bank, once said of him: "Minos Zombanakis has experienced and contributed to the greatest changes in financial markets in history. He is a legend not only because of his financial skills but also, while Greek, he is one of those few universal...