Bank of Cyprus chairman Rologis resigns

THE Bank of Cyprus said yesterday its chairman Vassilis Rologis had tendered his resignation.

Reasons for the resignation were not immediately clear. The bank said its board of directors would discuss Rologis’s resignation at their next meeting scheduled for September 7.

Rologis was one of the key players behind a failed attempt by the bank – Cyprus’ largest – to acquire Emporiki Bank of Greece two months ago.

“We didn’t expect it and I can’t think what triggered it,” a source in the bank told the Reuters news agency.

In response to a question whether it was related to the Greek bank, the source said that all board members had, officially at least, backed Bank of Cyprus’s initial decision to go ahead with its attempts to acquire Emporiki.

Bank of Cyprus subsequently dropped from the Emporiki race amid stated concerns about a legal opinion on the Greek bank’s pension costs. It drew some criticism from Greek circles at the way it was handled.

Emporiki was subsequently bought out by France’s Credit Agricole.

Rologis, formerly head of the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry, became chairman of Bank of Cyprus in May 2004.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.