Previously, the Cypriot arm of Greek banking group Alpha Bank was reported to have offered individual investors a maximum discount of 20% against the sterling value of their full mortgage balance,
However, UK law firm Maxwell Alves has reported that some of the investors it is representing are now being offered discounts of ‘ up to 75% against foreign currency losses of the mortgages, equating to an overall discount of more than 25%’.
George Kounis, a consultant at Maxwell Alves, has reportedly said that Alpha Bank and other banks in Cyprus were “very keen” to avoid litigation and reach an out of court settlement.
He added that Alpha Bank Cyprus in particular had approached all lawyers, groups and individual clients with offers for settlement that were “much more attractive” than previous offers.”
Kounis also revealed that offers made to organised groups were higher and he was advising individuals not to accept the offers Alpha had been making which had levelled off at 20 per cent off the balance.
Maxwell Alves is one of several law firms which recently filed a High Court action on behalf of 215 clients with “substantial claims” against the Cypriot arm of Alpha Bank and 24 associated property developers.
At issue are the cases of Britons and others who took out Swiss franc mortgages in order to buy Cyprus properties – in some cases, some of the investors are alleging, without their knowledge that the mortgages were in the Swiss currency, or without their being told what the risks of such mortgages might be.
As the Cyprus property market collapsed and the value of the Swiss currency soared, these investors discovered that their investments were worth far less than they had paid.
