The Bank of Cyprus (BoC; ; ) is a Cypriot financial services company established in 1899 with its headquarters in Strovolos. Bank of Cyprus has been designated as a Significant Institution since the entry into force of European Banking Supervision in late 2014, and as a consequence is directly supervised by the European Central Bank. After 7 years shares of Bank of Cyprus started trading on the Athens Stock Exchange After seven years Common Shares of the Bank of Cyprus started trading on the Main Market of the Athens Stock Exchange. The withdrawal of the London Stock Exchange and the reintroduction of Bank of Cyprus to the Athens Stock Exchange is the next big step in its 125-year history, as it reinforces its strategy for long-term growth and value creation for both its shareholders and customers, while increasing its awareness among a wider base of institutional and private investors. The start of trading at the Athens Stock Exchange was accompanied by the traditional ceremony, in the presence of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank, Mr. Takis Arapoglou, the Bank's CEO, Mr. Panikos Nikolaou, the Executive Director of the Finance Department, Ms. Eliza Livadiotou, the Managing Director, Athens Stock Exchange Group, Mr. Giannos Kontopoulos, the President of the Capital Market Commission, Ms. Vasiliki Lazarakou, executives and guests of the Bank.

Current operations

The Bank of Cyprus currently operates 58 branches (3 of which are cash offices not offering loans) or business offices across the Republic of Cyprus. The group also has representative offices in Romania (€33 million net exposure as of 2007), Greece (€309 million exposure as of 2007), Russia (€21 million net exposure as of 2007), Ukraine, and China. It is the largest bank in Cyprus by market penetration, with 83% of Cypriots having active Bank of Cyprus accounts, representing 60% of total corporate accounts and 40% of the overall banking sector. The shares of the bank are listed on the Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE). The bank is the largest listed company on the CSE in terms of market capitalization. Since 8 October 2007, it has been part of the Cyprus 10 Index, which comprises the 10 largest companies in Cyprus. It was listed on the Athens Exchange from 2000 to 9 January 2017 and was part of the FTSE/Athex Large Cap index from 9 October 2006 to March 2013. It was also listed on the London Stock Exchange in January 2017.

History

The Nicosia Savings Bank or Nicosia Depository (Ταμιευτήριο η Λευκωσία) was founded on 1 January 1899 by a group of Cypriots led by Ioannis Economides, a figure in financial and social circles. The bank was the first Cypriot bank, with all the other banks in Cyprus being foreign-owned. In 1912, it became a public company and changed its name to Bank of Cyprus (BoC). In 1930, BoC incorporated as a limited company and in 1943 if merged with Famagusta Bank and Larnaca Bank (est. 1926). In 1944, BoC acquired the Melissa Bank, Paphos (est. 1924), and the Mortgage Bank of Cyprus was established. In 1945, BoC merged with the Cyprus Savings Bank (Kypriakon Tomieftiron) (est. 1908). In 1953, BoC merged with Paphos Popular Bank (Paphos Laiki Bank) (est. 1924). In 1955, BoC opened the London branch, its first branch abroad, and in 1960 BoC established a subsidiary, Bank of Cyprus (London) Ltd.: Xeros, Morphou and Zodhia (Nicosia District), Golden Sands, Kato Varosha, Kennedy Avenue, Democratias Avenue, Evagoras Avenue and Oceania (Famagusta Town), Yialousa, Rizokarpaso and Lysi (Famagusta District), and Kyrenia, Karavas and Lapithos branches (Kyrenia District). In 1982, BoC acquired Standard Chartered Bank's Cypriot operations. (The then Chartered Bank had bought the Ionian Bank's Cypriot operations in 1957.) BoC also opened a representative office in Greece. In 1986, BoC opened a representative office in Australia.

2000's

2010's

2020's

Controversy

In December 2009, Bank of Cyprus' Romanian office announced that it had purchased 9.7% of TLV's (Banca Transilvania) shares for 58 million euros, and in May 2010 expressed interest in acquiring 20% of TLV's stock. DIICOT, the Romanian body that investigates organized crime and terrorism, charged the head of TLV's administration council, Horia Ciorcila, and the head of Bank of Cyprus Romania, Georgios Christoforou, with stock market manipulation and money laundering in this transaction. DIICOT also charged a former vice-president of the administration council or TLV, Claudiu Silaghi, and other individuals. Bank of Cyprus Romania denied any wrongdoing. The Bucharest Tribunal acquitted Ciorcila and Christoforou on 4 July 2011, as did the Bucharest Court of Appeal on 27 June 2012. On 2 July 2014, the Romanian High Court of Justice rejected the second appeal made by DIICOT as ungrounded. Consequently, the acquittal decisions of the Bucharest Tribunal (2011) and Court of Appeal (2012) have been maintained, confirming the full acquittal of all defendants. In 2014, the bank sold off non-core assets and has thus sold its stake in the Romanian Banca Transilvania and the Ukrainian bank was also sold. After a 1 billion euro increase in capital led by CEO John Hourican, a new board and shareholders took the helm in November 2014 led by Josef Ackermann and Wilbur Ross. Ross represented funds that controlled about 19% of the bank, including Renova Group's affiliate Lamesa Investments Ltd 9.2% stake in 2018 (5.46% in 2014) and TD Asset Management with 5.23% in 2014. Ross brought with him as co-chair Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, who was a former KGB agent and one-time chairman of Norilsk Nickel from August 2008 to December 2012, as well as a long-time close associate of Vladimir Putin; however, Strzhalkovsky was replaced in 2015 with Maksim Goldman, who was a board member of Rusal until 11 April 2018 and directs the Viktor Vekselberg associated Renova Group's strategic projects.

Deposit tax and bail out or bail in

A decision was imposed by EU finance ministers to force depositors in Cyprus to take a loss (bail in), in order to help fund an International Monetary Fund and euro zone bailout (bail-in in the case of Bank of Cyprus: with 47.5% of uninsured depositors, above 100,000 Euro, contributing to the bank's recapitalization). The bail in converted €3.8 billion or around 25% of deposits to capital, with the bank receiving around 20,000 new shareholders.