Blog
Cyprus Banking Delegation Completes Successful United States Visit
June 19, 2019
A senior delegation from the Association of Cyprus Banks (ACB) has recently completed a successful visit to the United States, during which it met with senior U.S. government officials, important U.S. financial industry regulators, Members of the U.S. Congress and their key staff, global banking institutions, academics, and the financial media. The delegation consisted of senior executives from the two largest ACB member banks: Marios Skandalis - Bank of Cyprus and Matheos Charalambides - Hellenic Bank.
Building on the relationships established during the first ACB visit to the U.S. in June 2018, this year’s trip served to reaffirm to critical U.S. audiences Cyprus banking sector’s commitment in adhering to high standards of combating financial crime, and to present the effective comprehensive review of the extensive financial reforms that have been implemented in Cyprus since the financial crisis. The delegation particularly noted recent external validation of Cyprus’s progress, including assessments by the 2019 U.S. Department of State International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR); U.S. Treasury Department Assistant Secretary Marshall Billingslea, who said Cyprus has made “enormous progress and improvements”; the ranking of Cyprus on the Corruption Perception Index; and a Transparency International AML Transparency Measures and Quality of Reporting survey. Updates on the economic recovery in Cyprus and the reduction in non-performing loans across the banking sector were also shared.