Our transparency, your trust
Ancoria Bank is a newly established bank in Cyprus. Our aim is to become the most trusted, committed and effective financial partner to all our customers.
Central to our ambitions is a robust governance framework, which we believe is essential to creating a healthy and entrusted organisation, as well as to building strong and lasting relationships based on transparency and trust.
The Board of Directors inspires a sound corporate culture by setting high standards of compliance with the applicable European Union and national legal and regulatory framework on governance.
Company Secretary: Sofia Kontou
Legal Advisors: Chryssafinis & Polyviou LLC
Auditors: PricewaterhouseCoopers Ltd
Registered Office
Ancoria Bank Ltd
12 Demostheni Severi Avenue, 1st Floor, 1080 Nicosia
P.O. Box 23418, 1683 Nicosia, Cyprus
Tel.: +357 22 849001
Fax: +357 22 849002
Registration Number: HE 324539
Corporate Governance Policies and Frameworks
Conflicts of Interest
Specifically and according to this policy, adequate procedures and measures to manage and prevent Conflicts of Interest are applied. These procedures include adequate segregation of duties, information security measures and measures to prevent inappropriate influences from outside the Bank.
Overall these procedures aim to manage and prevent possible conflicts of interest for the Board and the employees at all hierarchical levels.
Anti-Bribery
The Bank has designed this policy and has in place principles and procedures to prevent the occurrence of bribery. The Bank expects all employees, associated persons and other third parties with whom the Bank cooperates, to comply with these principles in the performance of their services for or on behalf of the Bank.
The principles and procedures are summarised as follows:
GIFTS, HOSPITALITY AND EXPENSES
Giving or receiving gifts or hospitality is often an important part of maintaining and developing business relationships. This policy does not prohibit normal and appropriate hospitality to or from third parties and the giving or acceptance of gifts, provided that all gifts and hospitality are for a genuine purpose, reasonable, given in the ordinary course of business and comply with internal policies and procedures.
DEALING WITH PUBLIC OFFICIALS
Although this policy applies to both public and private sectors, dealing with public officials poses a particularly high risk in relation to bribery due to the relevant law provision (Criminal Code – Cap 154 section 100) and strict penalties are foreseen. The provision of money or anything else of value, no matter how small, to any public official for the purpose of influencing them in their official capacity is strictly prohibited.
REPORTING
All individuals, including members of staff, are encouraged to report any suspicions they may have of bribery or corruption. Furthermore the Bank established a whistleblowing procedure to facilitate reporting issues.
Compliance Governance
In light of the above, the Bank established an independent Compliance Function, which in turn is responsible for implementing an appropriate compliance framework to ensure the Bank’s on-going compliance, and adopted a Compliance Governance Policy approved by the Board.
Moreover, ad-hoc and regular reports on compliance issues are submitted by the Compliance Function to the Board, the senior management and to the Regulators.
Data Protection
This policy describes how personal data are collected, used, stored and processed in general in order to meet Ancoria Bank’s data protection standards and the applicable legal and regulatory provisions. The Bank is committed to protecting the privacy rights of individuals and therefore ensures the security and privacy of personal data.
Diversity
Remuneration Policy
The Bank’s Remuneration Policy provides the framework for establishing and applying remuneration policies, inclusive of salaries and discretionary benefits, for the Bank’s employees.
It defines relevant terminology, outlines the responsibilities of relevant stakeholders, and identifies the below principles to be followed:
- It applies to all members of staff.
- It is consistent with and promotes sound and effective risk management, and does not encourage risk- taking that exceeds the level of the Bank’s tolerated risk.
- It is gender neutral, based on equal pay for male and female employees for equal work or of equal value.
- It is in line with the business strategy, objectives, values, and long-term interests of the Bank, and incorporates measures to avoid conflicts of interest.
- It is transparent. The remuneration policy is internally disclosed to all staff and accessible to all staff at all times.
The Policy takes into consideration specific requirements that apply for the variable remuneration of staff whose professional activities have a material impact on the Bank’s risk profile.
It is fully compliant with relevant local and international directives and guidelines, as outlined below, to the extent that is appropriate to the Bank’s size, internal organization, and the nature, scope and complexity of its activities:
- European Banking Authority (EBA/GL/2021/04), 02 July 2021, “Guidelines on sound remuneration policies pursuant under Directive 2013/36/EU”
- Central Bank of Cyprus, April 2022, “Internal Governance of Credit Institutions Directive of 2021” – April 2022
- Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/923, 25 March 2021
