“Laiki Legacy must be cleared us as fast as possible,” Pavlou, who assumed his duties on April 6, said in an interview with the Cyprus Weekly.

Two years after the bail-in of depositors and bondholders to save BoC, nothing of Legacy Laiki has been sold, asset values have been depleted and the whole saga is surrounded by scandal. Pavlou said that his number one priority is to protect and even increase the value of the assets.

“We must sell these assets and give the value to those who lost money in March 2013,” he said.

Laiki assets include a 9.6% shareholding in BoC; Marfin Banks in Romania and Serbia; former Laiki subsidiaries Rossiysky Promyshlenny Bank in Russia and PJSC Marfin Bank in Ukraine; Investment Bank of Greece (IBG); a Minority Share in Lombard of Malta; and, potentially, lawsuits brought by Legacy Laiki against former chairman Andreas Vgenopoulos and other former top officials.

Pavlou, who is also the Chairman of IBG, says that as part of his efforts to raise the value of the assets, he will try to become a member of the board of all of Laiki’s assets.

Together with the appointment of Pavlou as administrator, the Resolution Authority, which is run by the Central Bank of Cyprus, also appointed IBG as the advisor of Legacy Laiki.

Pavlou turned down suggestions that this creates a conflict of interest for IBG as both an asset and an advisor, saying that it is an advantage for Legacy Laiki.

“IBG is one of the safest and cleanest banks of the world. It is going to be an advisor to Legacy Laiki and will help us to sell our assets,” Pavlou said.

He added that IBG will also save money for Legacy Laiki creditors. “Because everything will be internal now. The fees that we were supposed to be paid to an external advisor will remain with Legacy Laiki,” he said.

Source: InCyprus