Hellenic Bank ready to help fix mess caused by Co-op setoff

Hellenic Bank said on Tuesday that while it had no involvement in the reconciliation of loans and deposits at accounts at the Co-op it is ready to help affected customers by immediately opening new accounts.

“Hellenic Bank has become the recipient of complaints by customers of the former Cyprus Cooperative Bank concerning the setoff of deposits with loans extended by the former Co-op,” the bank said. “We understand that the setoff may have affected current accounts, credit and debit cards, issued cheques, standing orders linked to the above loans (and) deposits”.

The deposits at accounts of the former state-owned Cyprus Cooperative Bank were transferred to Hellenic Bank as they were shaped on September 1, 2018, the bank said.

“Any decision to setoff loans (and) deposits was strictly a decision of the former Cyprus Cooperative Ban, with which Hellenic Bank had no involvement,” it said. “This decision was carried out ahead of the acquisition and transfer to Hellenic Bank and was not within Hellenic Bank’s control”.

“In our effort to help the situation, Hellenic Bank is ready to assist certain customers with the immediate opening of new accounts and any other required service via its branch network,” it said.

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.