Last week, the bank’s customers began to receive letters informing them of the upcoming closure of their accounts. The basis for this decision is the information available to the Bank of Cyprus, which “does not comply with the rules of Know Your Customer”.
According to media reports, accounts will be closed to Russians who do not permanently reside in the territory of the island state and who also have tax resident status in Russia. Another pretext for refusing service could be the receipt by the Cypriot bank’s customers of income from Russia, for example salaries or dividends from Russian companies that were previously subject to Western sanctions.
As RG has learned, the Bank of Cyprus has also started to deny its customers with Russian passports crediting their accounts with funds from the Russian Federation. As one of the employees of a large Russian company permanently residing in Cyprus told our correspondent, in a letter sent to him at the beginning of April by the Bank of Cyprus, it is noted: “the refusal to credit an inbound money transfer to your account is based on our banking group’s sanctions policy.”
Cypriot media note that following the Bank of Cyprus, other major banks on the island may introduce similar measures against Russian customers. According to the Central Bank of Cyprus, at present, only 2.2% of deposits in local financial institutions belong to final beneficiaries of Russian nationality.
The day before, it became known that by order of Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulidis, a special unit would be created in this country to monitor compliance with the international sanctions regime. This decision was taken following several emergency meetings with the head of the island state, following the announcement last week of American and British sanctions against dozens of citizens and companies in the Republic of Cyprus. .
Cypriot natural and legal persons subject to Washington and London restrictions are said to have helped major Russian businessmen circumvent Western sanctions. The Nicosia official asked the US and Britain for evidence of violations committed by Cypriots and promised to work closely with US-UK authorities and the EU to “defend the reputation of Cyprus “. Christos Clerides, president of the Pancyprian Bar Association, in an interview with the RIK TV channel, called the US and UK sanctions against Cypriot citizens “excessive” and said there was no evidence confirming the guilt of Cypriots who fell under Western restrictions.
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