Author Archives: Editor1

Administrator is Away … Again

18 February 2015

As on a couple of occasions in 2014, the Administrator has left for an unheralded, unexplained break from yesterday 18 February until, we have been led to expect, next Tuesday the 24th. As before, he has appointed no deputy so during these days the Bank’s Cyprus branch can issue no cheques.
Of course, it is quite reasonable that the Administrator gets the chance to put up his feet from time-to-time, we all need that. However, it is much less reasonable that he fails to appoint someone in his place to approve transactions.

 

Competition Complaint Gets Underway

14 February 2014

Opening arguments have been submitted in the Cyprus Competition Commission’s hearings in regard to the Commission’s complaint against JCC Payments Systems Limited, its shareholders and other banks in regard to the issuing of payment cards and acquiring services. The hearings resume on Monday, 16 February.

 

Questions in the Cyprus Parliament

12 February 2015

As seen on the Cyprus Parliament’s website today (http://www.parliament.cy/easyconsole.cfm/id/326 ): the House of Representatives has called a meeting to continue its investigation into actions taken by the Central Bank against FBME Bank ‘which may have consequences in the public interest’. The meeting, to be held from 9.20 am on Tuesday 17 February, will be hosted by Parliament’s Ombudsman committee. The actual name of this committee is the Institutions, Merit and Commissioner for Administration (Ombudsman) Committee and its primary responsibility is the oversight of the conduct of public bodies and institutions.

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Can FBME Funds be Misappropriated for Deposit Insurance?

10 February 2015

Rumour has it that the Central Bank of Cyprus intends to misappropriate FBME Bank  funds for premiums related to deposit protection insurance, effectively making the Bank pay twice. This cannot be the intention of the Central Bank, as it knows full well that there is no legal basis for taking such action. But it ought to look at the verbal statements being made by its appointed Administrator, Mr. Dinos Christofides.

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FBME Card Services Pursues Competition Complaint

6 February 2015

Hearings in the complaint pursued by the Cyprus Competition Commission are to commence in the week beginning 9 February and are expected to last into March. This is in regards to the Commission’s findings against JCC Payments Systems Limited, its shareholders and other banks particularly in regard to the issuing of payment cards and running acquiring services. The complaint specifically deals with issues to do with the use of their market position to restrict competition in breach of articles 3 and 6 of the Cyprus Competition Law and articles 101 and 102 of the European Union Treaty.  Continue reading →

Website Spreads the Word

30 January 2015

 During the last four months of 2014, people from 144 countries visited this website, fbmeltd.com, from around 58,000 discrete users, clicking on close to 600,000 occasions. This covers the period from 7 September 2014 when the website was put back up after suffering a hacking attack, until the end of the year. The earlier period prior to the attempted denial-of-service assault, from the launch in the middle of August to early September, appears to have attracted as many as another 100,000 hits, it is believed.

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ICC Arbitration Panel Formed

26 January 2015

The arbitral tribunal has been agreed upon at the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris with arbitrators appointed by the owners of FBME Bank, the Republic of Cyprus and a chairman for the tribunal. One of the first tasks for these arbitrators is to look at the urgent issue of damages for actions taken by the Central Bank of Cyprus’ Administrator since the filing for arbitration was accepted by the ICC on 28 October 2014.

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Refresher AML and CTF Training

23 January 2015

As part of its undertaking to FinCEN, FBME Bank has implemented new ‘refresher’ training for employees that reflects its commitment to implementing tight controls at all times. The new training enhances the already strong training and compliance controls of the Bank. The focus is principally on policies dealing with anti money laundering, know-your-customer, counter terrorist financing and economic sanctions.

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FBME Bank and FinCEN in Discussions

23 January 2015

On 21 January, a meeting was held in Washington DC between FBME Bank representatives and the US Department of the Treasury’s FinCEN bureau. The purpose was to discuss further the FinCEN Notice of Finding (NOF) and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), published in the Federal Register on 22 July 2014, and FBME Bank’s response to the concerns outlined in the Notices.

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