Gold Magazine November - December 2013, Issue 32 | Page 10

UP FRONT

PWC TRAINEES TOP
ACCA EXAM RESULTS
IN CYPRUS

A

ndri Lazarou,
Demetra
Olymbiou,
Jacek Zybert
and Simona
Attaallah, trainee
accountants at PwC Cyprus,
achieved first places in Cyprus
in the examinations of the
Association of Chartered
Certified Accountants (ACCA),
held in June 2013.
Andri Lazarou, who came first in
Cyprus in the Advanced Audit
and Assurance paper, joined
PwC Cyprus in October 2011
and is currently working in
Assurance & Advisory services
in Nicosia. Demetra Olymbiou
achieved first place in Cyprus in
the Performance Management
paper. She joined PwC in March
2012 and is currently working in
Global Compliance Services in
Nicosia.
Jacek Zybert came joint first
in Cyprus in the Advanced
Financial Management paper. He
joined PwC in November 2010

and is currently working in Direct
Tax Services in Nicosia. With
him, Simona Attaallah achieved
joint first place in Cyprus
in the Advanced Financial
Management paper. She joined
the firm in September 2008 and
is currently working in Global
Compliance Services in Nicosia.
Evgenios Evgeniou, CEO of PwC
Cyprus, and Philippos Soseilos,
Head of Human Capital,
congratulated the four trainee
accountants at a ceremony
organised last month to honour
their outstanding achievements.
Evgeniou noted that “Our
major asset is our people
who enable us to deliver
value to our local and
international clients, focusing
on quality, professionalism
and dependability. Despite the
difficult market and economic
conditions, such achievements
strengthen our commitment
to continue to invest in their
training, development and
advancement.”

Chinese Bank Tops
World Banks Ranking

A

Chinese bank
has come top
in The Banker’s
Top 1000
World Banks
ranking for the first time ever.
ICBC (Industrial and Commercial Bank of China) has
moved from third to first place
on the back of a 15% increase
in capital. Last year’s winner
Bank of America fell back to
third while JP Morgan stayed
second.
ICBC’s stellar performance
marks a new high in the growing strength of China’s banks.
Its second largest, the China
Construction Bank (CCB) also
grew its capital by 15% and
dislodged Citigroup from fifth
place. The UK’s only bank
in the top 10 is fourth-placed
HSBC, which gains significant
earnings from its Asian opera-

TOP 10 GLOBAL BANKS RANKED BY TIER 1 CAPITAL
Rank

1
2

(L-R): Philippos Soseilos (Head of Human
Capital), Simona Attaallah, Jacek Zybert,
Evgenios Evgeniou (CEO), Demetra Olymbiou.

tions.
China now has 96 banks in the
Top 1000 ranking and holds
four places in the Top 10. Its
big four banks ICBC, CCB,
Bank of China and Agricultural Bank of China head the
table for the largest profits.
Though European banks continue to perform badly, one of
the best European performers
is Turkey where the banks
grew profits by 37%. Spanish banks together lost $73bn
accounting for nearly 5% of
GDP. In a table of the 10 largest losses six of the banks are
Spanish.
Globally, Africa’s banks have
doubled their share of profits
from 1.15% in 2006 to 2.31%
now and central and south
America’s share has nearly
tripled from 2.37% to 6.37%
over the same period.

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BANK

ICBC
JP Morgan
Chase & Co
Bank of America
HSBC Holdings
CCBC
Citigroup
Mitsubishi UFJ
Wells Fargo & Co
Bank of China
Agricultural Bank
of China

TIER 1
COUNTRY CAPITAL $M

China

160,646

USA

160,002

USA
UK
China
USA
Japan
USA
China

155,461
151,048
137,600
136,532
129,576
126,607
121,504

China

111,493

FXTM CEO SCOOPS
TWO AWARDS

F

orexTime CEO Olga Rybalkina won the Top Professional and People’s Choice awards
at last month’s annual Russian Business Woman of the Year Awards.
The annual Top Professional award is presented each year to a
businesswoman who has excelled in the areas of leadership and
management in business. Rybalkina was singled out for her successful
career in financial services. The award also recognises her accomplishments in managing the global expansion of ForexTime and developing
the skilled and talented management team leading the company.
Asked to reveal the secret of her success, she said: “I believe that
successful business people – men and women – must have a
passion for what they do and this is the foundation on which
ForexTime was built. There can be no success without true
excitement for and commitment to what you do.”

10 Gold THE INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT, FINANCE & PROFESSIONAL SERVICES MAGAZINE OF CYPRUS

up_front.indd 10

07/11/2013 17:52