The firm has one of the largest banking litigation teams in Cyprus, comprising around 20 lawyers that handle the full spectrum of contentious banking and other financial services work.
The Banking Litigation team is headed by the firm’s Managing Partner, Mrs. Stella Polyviou, and the firm’s Partners, Mrs Cleo Polyviou, Mr. Panayiotis Makrides, Mrs. Xenia Kokkinou and Mr. Nikolas Kallenos.
The firm is regularly instructed on matters that set legal precedent in Cyprus. In the past year alone, the firm secured the first ever summary judgment under the new Civil Procedure Rules 2023, striking out by way of summary judgment a claim against a Bank valued at over EUR 11.4 million; it successfully defended claims arising from the 2013 Eurogroup banking resolution measures; and it secured a landmark ruling confirming that bonds issued by a bank in the primary market through a public prospectus do not constitute investment services under MiFID.
A second characteristic is the range of parties the firm represents. The firm acts for banks, credit acquisition companies and other financial institutions, both local and foreign. Core work includes debt recovery, court foreclosure proceedings, repossession of secured assets, post-judgment enforcement, and disputes arising from debt restructuring, insolvency and bankruptcy. The firm also handles claims involving contract law issues, professional negligence, breaches of fiduciary, statutory and other duties, as well as insurance disputes connected with banking activities.
The firm has particular depth in matters arising from the 2013 Cypriot banking crisis and its aftermath, including deposit haircut litigation, the transfer of banking assets and liabilities between institutions, challenges to the validity of security instruments held by acquiring entities, and the application of consumer protection and unfair contract terms legislation to financial products.