Andreas Syngros

Who was Andreas Syngros?

Andreas Syngros was a Greek banker from Istanbul, at the time known internationally as Constantinople, and a philanthropist. Born in Istanbul to Chiot parents, Syngros was one of the founders of the Bank of Constantinople along with Stephanos Skouloudis. Syngros married Iphigenia Mavrokordatou of the wealthy merchant Mavrocordatos family; they never had any children. They moved to Athens in 1871 where Syngros planned to found a new bank. Buying land from the widow of Dimitrios Rallis, Syngros engaged the well-known Athenian architect Nikolaos Soutsos who built his home based on plans by the German Ernst Ziller, across from the Royal Palace. Today the mansion is the headquarters of the Greek Foreign Ministry, having been left to the state by his widow.

He, together with other members of the Constantinople Greek diaspora and the Odessa Greek diaspora, led by Evangelis Valtatzis, founded the General Credit Bank.

In 1882, he founded the Privileged Bank of Epirus and Thessaly in Volos to help the economy of the newly annexed Greek territories of Epiros and Thessaly.