Remember how Wilbur Ross promised upon his appointment as Commerce Secretary to resign from the board at the Russian-controlled Bank of Cyprus? Yeah, about that:
Bank of Cyprus Holdings Public Limited Company (“BOC Holdings” and, together with its subsidiaries, the “Group”) announces that, further to his appointment as U.S. Commerce Secretary, Mr Wilbur L. Ross Jr. has today, 1 March 2017, submitted his resignation from his position as Member and Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of BOC Holdings and Bank of Cyprus Public Company Limited (the “Bank”)… The Board of Directors of both BOC Holdings and the Bank at their corresponding meetings held today, 1 March 2017, decided to appoint Mr James B. Lockhart III as a member of the Board of Directors on each of these Boards. The appointment on the Bank’s Board of Directors is subject to approval by the European Central Bank (ECB). Once approved by the ECB, Mr Lockhart will also participate as a member of the Nominations & Corporate Governance Committee and the Risk Committee .Mr Lockhart serves as Vice Chairman of WL Ross & Co. LLC in New York since 2009 and as a Member of Investment Committees and the Management Committee thereof.
Now, Secretary Ross sold his eponymous company to Invesco in 2006, remaining chairman, but it doesn’t look Invesco is doing much with it at the moment:
Thank you for visiting WL Ross & Co.
This page is currently under construction. Please check back for updates on WL Ross & Co. and Invesco WLR Credit Partners.
They may be winding the subsidiary down, or awaiting Ross’ return as chairman. Either option would make Mr Lockhart available for a new position. It must be purely a coincidence that his new gig is as replacement for his boss on the Bank of Cyprus board. To protect Ross’ money? To protect the money Ross was protecting for someone else? It’s worth noting that the bank’s current Vice Chairman, Maksim Goldman, is a director at Renova Group, owned by Victor Vekselberg, a Russian/Ukrainian oil and aluminum tycoon. Through a Panamanian subsidiary, Renova Group is the Bank of Cyprus’ largest shareholder.
David Corn and Russ Choma have an excellent rundown of the Bank of Cyprus’ various Russian connections over at Mother Jones.