Bank of Cyprus, the largest bank in Cyprus, has closed the bank accounts of seven thousand Russians since the beginning of the war against Ukraine, a total of 20 thousand accounts have been closed, Russian media reports citing a report by Bank of Cyprus, UNN reports.
Details
According to the bank, after February 2022, it closed about 20 thousand accounts belonging to 7 thousand Russian clients. It allowed Russian citizens of retirement age to keep their accounts.
As indicated, the Bank of Cyprus started the rehabilitation of the bank's client portfolio in 2014 after the imposition of sanctions against Russia in response to the occupation of Crimea. "At the time of the start of the bank's client portfolio rehabilitation in 2014, Russians accounted for 4% of the client portfolio. Today, this share is only 0.4%," the bank said,
The accounts remaining with the bank, according to the bank, are mainly held by Russian citizens of retirement age. According to a representative of Bank of Cyprus, the bank was guided by "international compliance standards" and its own risk management policy when deciding which clients to close their accounts.
When asked about the future policy towards Russian citizens, the bank replied that "the bank considers and evaluates possible relations with Russian citizens who legally reside in Europe, are not under international sanctions, and conduct permissible activities in sectors that are in line with the bank's policy.
Addendum
Earlier, Bank of Cyprus reported that it planned to close the accounts of 4,000 customers holding Russian passports and not residing in the EU by the summer of 2023. Bank of Cyprus closed its representative offices in Moscow and St. Petersburg in early 2024.