Bank of Cyprus: New committees, but still no CEO

The new Bank of Cyprus board of directors, installed after the controversial shareholders’ meeting on September, has appointed the five committees that together with the executive management team, is running the bank in the absence of a CEO.
The bank announced 2.2 bln euros in losses for 2012 last week, in a set of results delayed by the financial crisis that hit the island and the restructuring of the banking sector.
The board committees are comprised as follows:
Audit – Ioannis Zographakis (Chairperson), Anjelica Anshakova, Konstantinos Katsaros, Xanthos Vrachas and Andreas Yiasemides.
Risk – Vladimir Strzhalkovskiy (Chairperson), Anjelica Anshakova, Dmitry Chichikashvili, Marinos Gialeli, Xanthos Vrachas and Ioannis Zographakis.
Remuneration – Marios Yiannas (Chairperson) and Marios Kalochoritis.
Nominations and Corporate Governance – Christis Hassapis (Chairperson), Marinos Gialeli, Marios Kalochoritis, Konstantinos Katsaros, Marios Yiannas and Andreas Yiasemides.
Strategy and Restructuring – Andreas Yiasemides (Chairperson), Anjelica Anshakova, Dmitry Chichikashvili, Marios Kalochoritis, Konstantinos Katsaros, Adonis Papaconstantinou, Xanthos Vrachas, Marios Yiannas and Ioannis Zographakis.
Konstantinos Katsaros has been appointed Senior Independent Director.
The bank is about to submit a restructuring plan which “will define its strategy, business model and risk appetite” with the aim “to create a healthy financial institution, by rebuilding trust and confidence of both depositors and investors, preserving the bank’s status as the cornerstone of the domestic economy and building a resilient institution, able to effectively manage its portfolio of assets and withstand further external shocks and economic turbulence.”
These are plans spearheaded by interim CEO Christos Sorotos who took over at the end of May and stepped down at the bank’s controversial AGM in early September.
The board that arose from the new shareholders (and former depositors), including six Russians, has been searching for a new CEO, not excluding Sorotos, in order to implement the restructuring plan and the smooth integration of the defunct Laiki’s operations.