Cyprus' Central Bank yesterday decided to suspend for a week, of the operations of the Romanian branch of Bank of Cyprus (BoC), starting yesterday. The reason behind this decision would be to allow finding a solution for selling the Romanian subsidiary of the biggest Cypriot bank, the press release states, which specifies that the Romanian National Bank has received a notification about that.

Bank of Cyprus has entered the resolution procedure, which involves the restructuring and reorganization of the lender, the announcement mentions. "Until the reopening of the branch and of its Romanian agencies, customers can use the ATM networks, and for special needs they are invited to contact the call-center of Bank of Cyprus".

The sale of the Romanian branch of the Cypriot bank will bring the deposits created with this bank under the incidence of the Romanian legislation, Adrian Vasilescu, the advisor to the governor of the NBR: "The measure was taken this morning (ed. note: yesterday morning), but it has been negotiated ever since last week. We weren't taken by surprise. Their decision is a decision accepted by the NBR (...) The good relations and the negotiation capabilities have intervened and it has come to this decision to suspend the operations in order to identify a buyer, a measure which in the eyes of the NBR will provide protection for depositors, meaning that the acquiring bank would take over the assets and the liabilities, and the deposits will pass under the jurisdiction of the Romanian law". Adrian Vasilescu explained that according to current legislation, Bank of Cyprus, being set up in Cyprus, and being authorized and overseen by the Central Bank of Cyprus, obeys any regulation issued by the institution in that country.

"We will find out in the coming days whether there is interest or not. I think that there is and a good buyer will be fou