The Bank of Greece is the central bank of Greece. It was established in 1927 by an Annex to the Geneva Protocol and started operations in May 1928. As from January 2001, the Bank of Greece is an integral part of the Eurosystem, which consists of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the national central banks (NCBs) of the European Union (EU) Member States participating in the euro area. This implies that the Bank of Greece contributes through its activities to the achievement of the objectives and the performance of the tasks of the Eurosystem, which defines and implements monetary policy in the euro area.