The objective of this project was to perform an in-depth conformance analysis of three Piraeus Bank retail branches with respect to the criteria of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) business excellence model and to develop a recommended action plan for the six highest impact projects. Piraeus Bank Group is one of the most dynamic and active financial organizations in Greece today. In its effort to adopt the fundamental concepts of the EFQM excellence model, it has from the early 2000 begun to certify its organizational units at the level of “Committed to Excellence” by the EFQM, a non-profitable organization whose main objective is the development, promotion and diffusion of total quality management principles. This level is the initial one and has been designed for organizations and organizational units that are at the beginning of their journey to excellence. For the analysis of the three branches vis-a-vis the nine criteria of EFQM we used internal documents of Piraeus Bank, field observation in the branches and interviews with the managers and employees of the branches. The analysis revealed not only the strengths, but the weaknesses of the branches as well, upon which the development of the six improvement projects was based. These were the following: implementation and review of branches policy and strategy in a systematic way, linking between evaluation and payment systems, development of career pathing, development of a knowledge management system focusing on sales practices, improved processes management in back office operations, and participation of the branches in the local community. In order to prioritize the above-mentioned projects, a priorities matrix was used, designed on the basis of the project’s impact and the organization’s capability.
