History
RCB Bank was founded in 1995 under the name Russian Commercial Bank (Cyprus), which changed to simply RCB Bank in November 2013.[10] The bank was based in Limassol, with branches in Nicosia[11] and nine other locations across Cyprus.[12] It also had branches in Luxembourg and representative offices in Moscow and London.[10]
The bank's chairman was Greek-Cypriot banker Christakis Santis, while Russian banker Kirill Zimarin was its CEO.[13] Other board of directors members included English-Cypriot economist Sir Christopher Pissarides, Greek-Cypriot former foreign minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis, Greek-Cypriot former attorney general Petros Clerides, Greek-Cypriot former permanent secretary at the ministries of finance and justice Andreas Tryfonides, and Greek-Cypriot former ambassador and permanent secretary at the foreign ministry Sotos Zackheos.[13][14]
In November 2014, RCB Bank was categorized as a significant bank under European Banking Supervision.[15][16] RCB Bank was a partner of the European Investment Bank[17] and the European Investment Fund in financing investment projects implemented with the EU funds in Cyprus.[18]
In August 2017, Zimarin increased his ownership of RCB to 49.9% by acquiring a 19.85% stake in the Russian Otkritie Financial Corporation Bank.[12][19]
In February 2022, VTB Bank sold its shares in RCB to Cypriot shareholders in the midst of economic effects caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine,[20][21][22] thus making the bank entirely Cypriot-owned for the first time.[23][24][25][26][27]
In line with the voluntary decision of the shareholders of RCB to wind down banking operations, the ECB/CBC approved the withdrawal of the banking license of RCB on 22 December 2022.[28] The bank has ceased to trade.
