RCB Bank (formerly Commercial Bank of Russia) is an international bank founded in 1995 and headquartered in Limassol, Cyprus.

Background

RCB Nicosia Branch

In 1963, the London branch of the Public Opinion Bank in Moscow, Russia, established a branch in Beirut to provide support for the Soviet Union's foreign trade and export support to Middle Eastern countries. In 1985, at the height of the Libyan-American crisis, the Beirut branch was closed, some staff and documents were transferred to Cyprus, and documents were received from the Soviet State Bank in 1989. Later it was transferred to the Russian Foreign Bank, which became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Russian Trauma Bank in August 1995. In 2002, VTB owned a controlling stake in RCB Bank, as well as controlling stakes in Donau Bank Vienna and Union Bank East-West Luxembourg. By 2005, VTB controlled 100% of RCB Bank.

History

RCB Bank was founded in 1995 as Commercial Bank of Russia (Cyprus) and in 2013 as RCB Bank. As of July 2018, the bank is headquartered in Limassol and has branches in Nicosia and nine other locations in Cyprus. It also has branches in Luxembourg and representative offices in Moscow and London.

The bank is chaired by the Greek Cypriot banker Christakis Santis, while the Russian banker Kirill Zimarin is its CEO. Other board members include the Anglo-Cypriot economist Sir Christopher Pissarides, the former Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister Elato Kozaku-Makulis, the former Greek Cypriot Attorney General Petros Clerides, the former Greek Cypriot Permanent Secretary of the Finance and Justice Ministries Andreas Trivenides, and the former Greek Cypriot Ambassador and Permanent Secretary of the Foreign Ministry Sotos Zakhos.

In November 2014, RCB Bank was listed as an important bank for European banking supervision. Since 2016, RCB Bank has been a partner of the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund, financing investment projects implemented by European Union funds in Cyprus.

In August 2017, Zimarin increased its shareholding ratio to 49.9% of RCB by acquiring a 19.85% stake in Bank of Russia's Otkritie Financial Corporation.

In February 2022, amid the economic repercussions of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, VTB Bank sold its stake in RCB to Cypriot shareholders, thus making the bank fully Cypriot for the first time.

Based on the voluntary decision of RCB shareholders to end banking operations, the European Central Bank/Bank of Canada approved the revocation of RCB's banking license on December 22, 2022. The bank has stopped trading.