The largest bank in Cyprus closed 20,000 accounts of Russians after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine

Bank of Cyprus, the largest bank in Cyprus, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine closed about 20 thousand accounts that belonged to seven thousand clients with Russian citizenship.

About this reports Frank Media, citing Karen Le Cannoux, a spokesman for the bank. The reorganization of the client portfolio began in 2014, in connection with the introduction of sanctions that followed in response to the annexation of Crimea by Russia. A bank representative clarifies:

“At the time the reorganization began, Russians accounted for 4% of the client portfolio. Today this share is only 0.4%.”

Le Cannou noted that today the bank still has accounts of Russians of retirement age and emphasized:

“The bank considers and evaluates possible relationships with Russian citizens who legally reside in Europe, are not subject to international sanctions and conduct permissible activities in sectors consistent with the bank’s policies.”

In April 2023, Bank of Cyprus began sending out account closure notices to Russian clients, reported our publication, because he was afraid of British and American sanctions for serving Russians. The Limassol-based consulting company Main Partner Trust was the first to report this, publishing in its Telegram channel the text of the corresponding message that some Russians received. This information was later confirmed by a Forbes source in the banking industry.

The decision to close Russian accounts at the Bank of Cyprus was made after another expansion of the American SDN list (the list of specially designated citizens and blocked persons), Forbes reported with reference to the Cypriot company Main Partner Trust, which provides legal and financial services.

Source: Forbes reportedthat not only Bank of Cyprus, but also other local banks, such as Hellenic Bank and Alpha Bank, began to close the accounts of Russians more often due to fear of sanctions.

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