MOSCOW, January 31 (RIA Novosti) – The board of directors of Bank of Cyprus voted Thursday to unfreeze 900 million euros in deposits, Prime business news agency reported.
The funds will be available to depositors Monday, the agency reported, citing a source close to the bank’s board of directors.
Last spring the assets of depositors at the bank were frozen as part of a 10 billion euro international aid package to rescue the country’s banking sector.
As part of the deal Cyprus agreed to trim deposits with values over 100,000 euros. Russians were estimated to have $19 billion invested in the country at the time.
Cyprus announced a plan last summer to reimburse depositors who lost money in the “haircuts” with equity in the Bank of Cyprus.
Prime quoted the source as saying that the decision to release the funds was taken at the initiative of the Russian vice chairman of the bank’s board of directors, Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, a former chief executive at Norilsk Nickel who was elected to the bank’s board in September.
Russian businesses have had deep connections with Cypriot banking since the 1990s, attracted by the lax regulation and low taxes on the island.
Many Russians send their wealth offshore to perceived safe havens, fearing political and economic instability and corruption at home.
