NICOSIA, May 28 (Xinhua) -- London-based Greek banking expert Christos Sorotos has been appointed as interim chief executive officer at the Bank of Cyprus, it was announced Tuesday.
The Central Bank, acting as representative of the European Central Bank, has control over the Bank of Cyprus in its capacity as "resolution authority" until the lender is officially declared out of its restructuring phase.
Sorotos has experience in banking, corporate restructuring and management of non-performing loans, having previously worked as the deputy governor of the National Bank of Greece, country corporate officer for Citibank in Greece and general manager at Greek lender Eurobank
Central Bank of Cyprus officials expect the Bank of Cyprus to exit its restructuring phase at the end of July, after BlackRock investment management group completes a survey of its assets and the assets of Cyprus Popular Bank.
The Cypriot government is pressing for a speedy termination of Bank of Cyprus' special status and its return to normal operations as it is the only major lender capable of providing much-needed funds for a restart of the island's economy.
Cypriot banker Michael Kolakides turned down the interim CEO job offer last week citing that his term of office would be limited to the end of September.
Central Bank spokesperson Aliki Stylianou on Tuesday said banking controls would be greatly relaxed later this week.
"A new decree will be issued on Friday substantially easing restrictions on banking transactions so as to facilitate business activity," Stylianou said.
Bank restrictions are being reviewed on a weekly basis and about half of 27 foreign banks operating in Cyprus have already been excluded from restrictions on their international transactions.
Restrictions on transferring large amounts of money out of Cyprus for non-commercial business are still in force for local depositors.
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