Career and family business
His father John Latsis started building the family fortune in 1938 as a trader and later a ship-owner. He grew his business into a fleet of ships by the 1960s. He built up a number of business interests in the areas of shipping, real estate, construction and oil, plus banking and finance.[5] Latsis joined the family business initially in the banking arm.
From 1989, Latsis became a director of some companies within the EFG Group, the family banking Holding Group, including Private Financial Holdings Limited which became EFG Private Bank Limited in London, and EFG Consolidated Holding SA in Luxembourg. The following year, he also assumed the role of director of Eurofinanciere d'Investissements SAM in Monaco and became a non-Executive Director of Eurobank Ergasias SA in Athens. Dr Latsis officially assumed the role of Chairman of the EFG Group in 1997.[6]
After the death of his father in 2003, Latsis took over the direction of the Latsis Group of companies.[3] Since that time, Latsis, while remaining Chairman of EFG Bank (the family bank holding company) has become a director of EFG International and Consolidated Lamda Holdings, serves as President of Societe d'Etudes et Economiques in Geneva, and is Chairman of several other companies including Paneuropean Oil and Industrial Holdings S.A. in Luxembourg.[6]
In 2015 Latsis was the second wealthiest Greek, ranked #782 on the 2015 Forbes list of the world's richest people. Latsis saw his wealth significantly decline during Greece's recession, with stocks of his EFG Eurobank, Lamda Development and Hellenic Petroleum all falling significantly in 2011, but recovered in 2013. Latsis invited the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Durão Barroso, who had been a student friend at the University of Geneva,[7] to be a guest on his yacht.[8] Subsequently, allegations were made in the press that this influenced the Commissions decisions but Barroso dismissed those.[9]
In 2020 Latsis was officially dropped off by the Forbes world's richest people list.[10][11]
