Bank of Cyprus

Athens-listed group Motor Oil announced yesterday the acquisition of a 97.08 percent of the Investment Bank of Greece (IBG) for 73.5 million euros. The deal was signed on Tuesday.

The buyout of the lender is made through Motor Oil's 100 percent subsidiary Ireon Investments Ltd that is based in Cyprus.

Voluntary layoffs are reportedly expected next year with most credit institutions effecting a reduction in their employee numbers. The first large voluntary exit program, according to Kathimerini, is expected to be implemented by Bank of Cyprus, although guidelines and provisions for the layoffs have not been finalized yet.

The highest court in Cyprus on Wednesday quashed the sentence of a former chief executive of Bank of Cyprus, clearing him of charges that he sought to manipulate the share price before the country's financial meltdown in 2013.

A court in Cyprus sentenced the former chief executive of Bank of Cyprus to two-and-a-half years in prison on Friday for misleading shareholders on its capital needs immediately prior to the country's financial meltdown in 2013.

A former HSBC banker has been appointed to the board of Hellenic Bank, one of Cyprus's biggest lenders, with a view to becoming chairman of the bank.

In a statement filed to the Cyprus Stock Exchange on Tuesday, Hellenic Bank said that Youssef Nasr, a Lebanese American, was nominated as a board member at its meeting on Monday.

Bank of Cyprus said John Hourican will remain as its chief executive until the end of 2018, once again extending his stay.

Hourican, the former head of investment banking at Royal Bank of Scotland, had been due to leave Bank of Cyprus in February 2018 but said its board agreed on Tuesday to extend his appointment.

[Reuters]

Bank of Cyprus expects modest profitability in the next quarters and will not pay a dividend this year, its chief executive said on Thursday, speaking as its shares were listed on the London Stock Exchange.

The listing in London was a vote of confidence in the City despite Britain's looming exit from the European Union, CEO John Hourican said.

Bank of Cyprus priced its first public issue since bailing in bondholders during 2013's Cypriot banking crisis, in one of the strongest indicators yet that its turnaround story has won over investors.

The 250-million-euro 10-year non-call five-year Tier 2 bond (rated Caa3), priced at 9.25 percent, increased in size from 200 million and inside initial price talk of 9.5 percent.

Bank of Cyprus, which was forced to recapitalize by seizing customer savings in 2013, said on Thursday that it has fully repaid emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) to the island's central bank.

The lender said it had repaid 11.4 billion euros in total.

Most of it was a legacy of Laiki, a lender that was shut down during the financial crisis that gripped Cyprus in March 2013.

After Friday's unexpected gains, Greek stocks conceded some ground on Monday, with banks giving up the most. However, losses were contained significantly during the closing auctions, with Coca-Cola HBC, the market's biggest company by capitalization, posting a remarkable recovery in the last 15 minutes of trading.