Marfin calls for lifting of “closed period”

Marfin Popular Bank has submitted a petition to the Cyprus Securities & Exchange Commission (CySEC) to lift the ban on insider trading during the closed period, which according to local regulations is the period ahead of announcement of results and until the date of the announcement.
“These are exceptional times and it warrants exceptional action,” said MPB Vice-Chairman Andreas Vgenopoulos, speaking at a press briefing at the Bank’s head quarters in Nicosia.
As a MPB lawyer explained, the closed period issue has been introduced through regulation and is not in the legislation, which means if the CySEC wishes to amend it to suspend, it may do so at will.

MIG purchases from “floor”
Vgenopoulos told the Financial Mirror that the planned increase in the stake of Marfin Investment Group (MIG) in MPB from the current 9.7% to 30% will be made from the market and not from other investors selling their stakes.
“As far as we know, no major shareholder has expressed an interest to sell at current levels, which means any new purchases will be made from the market or the Exchange “floor” as per the terminology used in Cyprus,” said Vgenopoulos.