The Hellenic Bank, following Bank of Cyprus, has started to close personal accounts of Russian citizens, as well as the accounts of their companies.
This was reported on Thursday, February 8, by Main Partner Trust, a company providing legal and consulting services in Cyprus.
In its Telegram channel Main Partner Trust with reference to the bank stated that hundreds of Russians received "chain letters" from Hellenic Bank. At the same time, the sanctions affected exactly the citizens of the Russian Federation with Cypriot documents.
We are not talking about tax residents of the Russian Federation (such accounts were closed in 2023), but about Russian citizens with Cypriot documents residing in Cyprus. Hellenic Bank does not specify the reasons for closing the accounts in the letters that hundreds of Russians received," the company emphasized.
It is worth mentioning that in its report for the three quarters of 2023, Hellenic Bank noted that it intends to comply with the sanctions imposed on Russia: to strengthen the monitoring of clients, as well as all transactions.
Note that in addition to traditional banking products, Hellenic Bank provides a wide range of financial services, including factoring, brokerage, insurance, portfolio management, investment banking and custodial services. The bank previously had a representative office in Russia, but closed it in 2022. Earlier it also became known that Eurobank bought a controlling stake in Hellenic Bank.
In April 2023 Bank Of Cyprus sent notices to clients - citizens of Russia that their accounts will be closed.
The letters informed the clients that their accounts would be closed within two months of receiving the notice, as the user data did not comply with the rules of the "know your customer" procedure.
Bank Of Cyprus is considered to be the largest in Cyprus. At the end of 2022, Russians (excluding Cypriot companies owned by Russian citizens) kept more than 700 thousand euros on bank deposits. This is 6% more than the year before. Accounts in Bank Of Cyprus had about 15% of all Russians living in Cyprus.