12 March 2015

This article follows on from that above, Resolution Authority Adrift in a Sea of Troubles.

The Resolution Authority of the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) – actually its Board of Directors – and the Resolution Committee – three members of the same Board – appear, remarkably, answerable to no one except each other. They have bungled the Resolution of the Island’s Laiki Bank, causing massive problems across the whole domestic sector and have used a bogus interpretation of a Resolution Decree to expropriate the Cyprus branch of FBME Bank. In the process, they have caused an almost total collapse in confidence in the central bank, squandered opportunities to protect account holders and creditors, and risked compensation payouts of hundreds of millions of euros.

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4 March 2015

Whatever the original intention of the Central Bank of Cyprus in appointing Dinos Christofides as Administrator of the affairs of the Cyprus branch of FBME Bank, it is now fast degenerating into farce. Of course, there could be also something entirely more sinister at work.

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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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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 →

4 February 2015

Responding to criticisms from one of its own board members, the Central Bank of Cyprus has announced its intention to commission a major study of its operations with a view to bringing in “restructuring and modernization”.   Continue reading →

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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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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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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