Cyprus

Cyprus’s central bank has suspended efforts to find a buyer for branches of a Tanzania-based bank, pending the outcome of legal action seeking to block the sale, it said on Friday.

Cypriot regulators seized control of two branches of the FBME bank in July, after a department of the US Treasury alleged the bank engaged in money laundering.

US billionaire Wilbur Ross said on Tuesday that he will take a “significant” portion of the 1 billion euros worth of new shares being sold by Bank of Cyprus but that the complexities of the deal make it impossible to say how much at this point.

The Central Bank of Cyprus on Wednesday announced the suspension of all operations of the Cypriot branches of Tanzania-based bank FBME until Friday, with sources saying a possible extension of the suspension by another two days is likely.

By Alexandra Kassimi

Aegean Airlines has applied to enter the first stage of the process to sell Cyprus Airways, according to a bourse filing by Greece’s biggest carrier on Wednesday.

Ryanair will probably submit an expression of interest in troubled Cyprus Airways, which is up for sale, Chief Executive Michael O’Leary said on Tuesday.

The Cypriot government in mid-July invited non-binding expressions of interest in its shares or assets in Cyprus Airways, a state-controlled airline which has posted heavy losses for years.

Cyprus’s Greek and Turkish communities must work together to make sure that partition does not become a permanent fixture, President Nicos Anastasiades said yesterday as talks to reunite the Mediterranean island appear to have stalled.

Some of the Bank of Cyprus customers whose deposits were seized as part of an extraordinary move to rescue the island from financial collapse are selling stakes in the bank at a discount, the Financial Times reported on Monday. [Reuters]

Bank of Cyprus, a lender forced to use depositors' savings to recapitalise itself last year, is examining funding and capital options with advisers, it said on Friday.

Bank insiders, and a person familiar with the matter, said the bank was looking at a potential capital issue of between 500 and one billion euros, but the timing and the precise amount was still unclear.

Nicosia on Wednesday issued a terse response to a document submitted by Turkey to European Union officials which is said to have described the Republic of Cyprus as a “defunct” state, calling on Ankara to respect the agreements it has made with the European Commission.

An official document submitted by Turkey to the European Union has referred to the Republic of Cyprus as a “defunct” state, according to reports in Cypriot media.