The withdrawal of Vasilis Rologis from the Chairmanship of the Bank of Cyprus signals the change of the administrative balance in the bank and opens the way for further developments in both administrative and business level. The strongest candidates for his post are the BOC Board members, Christos Pantziaris and Eleftherios Ioannou, 72 and 73 years old respectively. They both have long banking experience: Mr. Pantziaris had been a Board member in the bank from 1995 to 2004, while Mr. Ioannou had been the Managing Director of Alpha Bank Romania from 2000 to 2004.
Mr. Rologis’ withdrawal is the result of strong behind-the-scenes developments, which culminated in the past few weeks, after the criticisms against the Emporiki Bank and Piraeus Bank cases. On July 21 and after the rejection of the Bank of Cyprus’ request to acquire Emporiki Bank, Central Bank Governor, Christodoulos Christodoulou had stated that the top monetary authority would review the aspects “that will emerge on the handlings and insufficiencies”. Mr. Christodoulou had talked about a “lack of specialized banking knowledge and professionalism”.
It seems that Mr. Rologis disagreed with the Central Bank and in his personal announcement released on Friday he stressed that “there is no objective reason for my withdrawal from the post of Chairman”. “My withdrawal will contribute further to the bank’s growth”, he added.
Mr. Rologis’ withdrawal came after the resignation of two more Board members, Messrs. Dimitris Pierides and Georgios David in late July. It is worth noting that BOC legal advisor, Polys Polyviou resigned and CEO Andreas Eliades was appointed by the bank in late June.
Mr. Eliades will remain in his post despite the fact that the attempt to acquire Emporiki Bank was his own initiative. Although Messrs. Eliades and Rologis supported strongly the acquisition of the Greek bank, the decisions of the Board of Directors on the issue were unanimous.
Mr. Rologis’ Chairmanship was quite controversial due to the remuneration that had been proposed at the AGM. Although the Chairman has no executive status, the AGM had decided for an annual remuneration of £100 thousand. The remaining non-executive Directors (except the Deputy Chairman) would receive £6 thousand per annum. Mr. Rologis had accepted a remuneration cut at a later stage, however, this year’s AGM approved the same sum in summary procedures.
Mr. Rologis’ terms of office coincided with the changes in the managerial staff of the Group and was largely connected to the increase in the Group’s profitability. When he became Chairman, the BOC share stood at £1.78. Its closing price on Friday stood at £4.21.
On Friday, BOC in the ASE recorded gains of 2.7% to €7.54 due to the scenarios for cooperation with Piraeus Bank. Messrs. Rologis and Eliades were against this possibility and they turned to Emporiki Bank to weaken the increasing stake of the Greek Group.
Mr. Rologis will remain in the Board of Directors.
Mr. Rologis’ withdrawal is the result of strong behind-the-scenes developments, which culminated in the past few weeks, after the criticisms against the Emporiki Bank and Piraeus Bank cases. On July 21 and after the rejection of the Bank of Cyprus’ request to acquire Emporiki Bank, Central Bank Governor, Christodoulos Christodoulou had stated that the top monetary authority would review the aspects “that will emerge on the handlings and insufficiencies”. Mr. Christodoulou had talked about a “lack of specialized banking knowledge and professionalism”.
It seems that Mr. Rologis disagreed with the Central Bank and in his personal announcement released on Friday he stressed that “there is no objective reason for my withdrawal from the post of Chairman”. “My withdrawal will contribute further to the bank’s growth”, he added.
Mr. Rologis’ withdrawal came after the resignation of two more Board members, Messrs. Dimitris Pierides and Georgios David in late July. It is worth noting that BOC legal advisor, Polys Polyviou resigned and CEO Andreas Eliades was appointed by the bank in late June.
Mr. Eliades will remain in his post despite the fact that the attempt to acquire Emporiki Bank was his own initiative. Although Messrs. Eliades and Rologis supported strongly the acquisition of the Greek bank, the decisions of the Board of Directors on the issue were unanimous.
Mr. Rologis’ Chairmanship was quite controversial due to the remuneration that had been proposed at the AGM. Although the Chairman has no executive status, the AGM had decided for an annual remuneration of £100 thousand. The remaining non-executive Directors (except the Deputy Chairman) would receive £6 thousand per annum. Mr. Rologis had accepted a remuneration cut at a later stage, however, this year’s AGM approved the same sum in summary procedures.
Mr. Rologis’ terms of office coincided with the changes in the managerial staff of the Group and was largely connected to the increase in the Group’s profitability. When he became Chairman, the BOC share stood at £1.78. Its closing price on Friday stood at £4.21.
On Friday, BOC in the ASE recorded gains of 2.7% to €7.54 due to the scenarios for cooperation with Piraeus Bank. Messrs. Rologis and Eliades were against this possibility and they turned to Emporiki Bank to weaken the increasing stake of the Greek Group.
Mr. Rologis will remain in the Board of Directors.
3287.99
1275.09
