These institutions are BLOM Bank SAL, Lebanon and Gulf Bank SAL, OJSC Promsvyazbank which operate as branches in Cyprus and the VTB`s subsidiary Russian Commercial Bank (Cyprus) Ltd.

All cashless payments or transfers of deposits/funds from a domestic customer to an international customer of a credit institution included in the catalogue or to such a credit institution’s own account are considered as cashless payments or transfers of deposits/funds to accounts held abroad and are subject to the provisions of any other Decree issued under the Law.

"All cashless payments or transfers of deposits/funds from a credit institution that is included in the above mentioned catalogue, for its own account or by the order of an international customer, are permitted and are not subject to any restrictive measure imposed under any other Decree issued under the Law", the Decree states.

The Decree permits "all transactions between a credit institution that is included in the catalogue and an international customer."

"All transactions between a credit institution that is included in the above mentioned catalogue, by the order of an international customer or for their own account, and an entity outside the Republic are permitted and are not subject to any restrictive measure imposed under any other Decree issued under the Law," the Decree adds.

It notes however that "credit institutions that are included in the above mentioned catalogue are prohibited from servicing domestic customers that maintain accounts with their Head Office or soliciting and obtaining new business from domestic customers or opening new accounts for domestic customers," noting that "all domestic customers are also subject to the restrictive measures imposed by any other Decree issued under the Law."

The Decree shall apply for a seven-day period starting from the day of its publication in the Official Gazette of the Republic.

Source: Financial Mirror