Maria Kettirou started her legal career at the Central Bank of Cyprus in 2005 after obtaining an MBA from the Cyprus International Institute of Management. She has been employed as a legal officer there for the last 13 years, and since 2013 has coordinated the activities of the legal department.

Assuming such a responsibility at the time was a major career challenge for Kettirou, as the Republic of Cyprus was facing a severe economic crisis during which the banking sector of the island underwent a major restructuring. ‘At this critical time for the country the Central Bank of Cyprus was mandated, amongst others, to use a new legal framework for the resolution of banks (based on the EU proposal of the Banking Recovery and Resolution Directive) in relation to the two largest banks of the country,’ Kettirou explains.

‘My involvement in the legal aspects of the resolution of banks in 2013, although a completely new and unknown area of law at the time, was a [turning point] in my legal career and is an area of law that I have since been involved and gained valuable expertise in’. Besides successfully dealing with challenging litigations brought against the bank at home and abroad, Kettirou has also impressed following the changes which came along with the first two pillars of the banking union in Cyprus, the SSM and SRM.

‘These changes have of course affected the Central Bank of Cyprus which was (and is) the national competent authority for the supervision and resolution of banks,’ Kettrou says. ‘The application of the European legal framework of the Banking Union is a challenge, as a number of legal questions arise in order for it to be effective and operative at a national level’.