Cyprus Popular Bank

Cyprus Popular Bank Public Co. Ltd
Publicly traded limited company
Traded as CSE: CPB
Industry Financial services
Founded 1901
Defunct 2013
Headquarters Nicosia, Cyprus
Area served
Greece, Romania, Serbia, Russia, Ukraine, Malta
Key people

Special Administrator
Products Banking, insurance, investment management
Revenue €1.012 billion (2010)[1]
Profit €87.1 million (2010)[1]
Total assets €42.58 billion (end 2010)[1]
Total equity €3.641 billion (end 2010)[1]
Owner Cypriot Government (84%)
Number of employees
9,000 (2010)[2]
Subsidiaries Investment Bank of Greece,
Marfin Bank Romania,
Marfin Bank Serbia,
Rosprombank Russia,
Marfin Bank Ukraine,
Lombard Bank Malta
Website www.laiki.com
The Marfin Laiki Bank in Finchley, North London.
Notice placed in the window of a London branch in 2013.
The interior of the Laiki Bank, Finchley, filled with boxes and cabinets after closure.

Cyprus Popular Bank (from 2006 to 2011, known as Marfin Popular Bank) was the second largest banking group in Cyprus behind the Bank of Cyprus until it was shuttered in March 2013 and was split into two parts the 'good' Cypriot part was merged into the Bank of Cyprus (including insured deposits under 100,000 Euro) and the 'bad' part or legacy entity holds all the overseas operations as well as uninsured deposits above 100,000 Euro, old shares and bonds. The uninsured depositors were subject to a bail-in and became the new shareholders of the legacy entity. As at May 2017, the legacy entity is one of the largest shareholders of Bank of Cyprus with 4.8% but does not hold a board seat. All the overseas operations, of the now defunct Cyprus Popular Bank, are also held by the legacy entity, until they are sold by the Special Administrator, at first Ms Andri Antoniadou, who ran the legacy entity for two years, from March 2013 until 3 March 2015. She tendered her resignation due to disagreements, with the Governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus and the Central Bank Board members, who amended the lawyers of the legacy entity, without consulting her. Veteran banker Chris Pavlou who is an expert in Treasury and risk management took over as Special Administrator of the legacy entity in April 2015 until December 2016. The legacy entity is pursuing legal action against former major shareholder Marfin Investment Group.

Its shares were listed on the Cyprus Stock Exchange and the Athens Stock Exchange. CPB had a network of more than 295 branches in Cyprus, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, the UK and Malta. The bank had applied to open a representative office in Beijing, People's Republic of China.[3]

Trading on the island as Laiki Bank (Laiki being the Greek word for Popular), as of September 2012 it held a 16% share of the market in loans and a 14.4% share of deposits. The Bank made a series of large loans, many to Greek companies prior to and during their financial crisis. What followed has been described as "billions handed out in bad loans created a financial time-bomb".[4] After the bank collapsed, it was rescued by the Cypriot government, which took 84% ownership on 30 June 2012 and as of March 2013 it is being dismantled as part of the 2012–2013 Cypriot financial crisis.[5]

History

In 1901, four leading citizens of Limassol—Agathoclis Francoudis, Ioannis Kyriakides, Christodoulos Sozos and Neoklis Ioannides—established the Popular Savings Bank of Limassol to encourage saving among the workforce. More than two decades later, in 1924, the bank changed its name from the Popular Savings Bank of Limassol to the Popular Bank of Limassol. The bank also became the first company in Cyprus to register as a public-traded company.

Then in 1967, the Popular Bank of Limassol changed its name to Cyprus Popular Bank (CPB) to reflect the bank’s expansion beyond Limassol. Expansion beyond Limassol followed quickly, with the establishment of its first branches in Nicosia, Famagusta (1969), and Paphos and Larnaca (1970). Also in 1970, Midland Bank acquired 22% of the company's shares, making Midland a major shareholder in CPB. The next year CPB relocated its headquarters from Limassol to Nicosia.

MPB also acquired 99.2% of the shares of Marine Transport Bank Ukraine for US$156 million. This bank was founded in 1993 as Marine Trade Bank and changed its name to Marine Transport Bank in 1996. It has its headquarters in the Odessa region and has 86 branches.
Lastly, MPB acquired 43% of the share capital of Lombard Bank Malta for €48 million from Banca della Svizzera Italiana (BSI) of Lugano. CPB now holds c. 49% of Lombard Bank Malta.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Annual Report 2010" (PDF). Marfin Popular Bank. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
  2. "Fact Sheet 2010" (PDF). Marfin Popular Bank. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
  3. "www.cse.com.cy".
  4. "The Report: Cypriot Banks". BBC Radio 4 The Report. 2013.
  5. "Laiki Financial Report I/2012" (PDF). Laiki. 2012. p. 2.
  6. "Laiki Bank Personal Products and Services". Bank of Cyprus.
  7. "Marfin Bank home".
  8. "Rosprombank Russia".
  9. "A new era in Cyprus corporate history". Cyprus Mail archive article. September 21, 2006.
  10. "Marfin Popular Bank acquires bank in Estonia". Financial Mirror. 2007-06-14. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-06-16.
  11. "New Cypriot sponsor deal aims to fight problems". Reuters. June 15, 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-16.
  12. https://web.archive.org/web/20110228033504/http://www.laiki.com/web/w3au.nsf/WebContentDocsByID/ID-4EAFE339EFBE0085C2257826003D469D. Archived from the original on February 28, 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2011. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  13. Jan Strupczewski; Annika Breidthardt (25 March 2013). "Last-minute Cyprus deal to close bank, force losses". Reuters. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  14. "Eurogroup signs off on bailout agreement reached by Cyprus and troika". Ekathimerini. 25 March 2013. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
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