Central bank picks Oliver Wyman as Cyprus banking consultants

The Central Bank of Cyprus has appointed a leading global management firm, Oliver Wyman, part of Marsh & McLennan Companies, to provide consulting services on issues related with the restructuring of the banking sector, but for an unspecified period of time.

Oliver Wyman replaces Alvarez & Marsal, whose contract expired on September 30, and will support the preparation and implementation of the comprehensive assessment of the significant banks that will be directly supervised by the European Central Bank.

The firm will support the ECB’s management and coordination and will provide financial advisory services for this project, notably in refining the methodology for the assessment.

The island's banking system is undergoing a radical change after the Eurogroup of Eurozone finance minsiters imposed a "bail in" rescue of the commercial banks from deposits in March, as part of a 10 bln bailout package for Cyprus. As a result, Bank of Cyprus absorbed second largest lender Laiki Popular, while the Cooperative societies are transitioning to become commercial banks, albeit within a smaller network, with capital injection of 1.5 bln euros from the Troika of international lenders — the ECB, the EU and the IMF.