Bank of Cyprus sees brighter future a decade after financial crisis
Bank of Cyprus has "the wind in its sails" and has upgraded its guidance for 2023 after exceeding targets last year, its chief executive officer said, a decade after the island's biggest lender came close to collapse.
"We have the wind in all our sails. The bank updated its guidance to show that net interest income increased 25% year-on year to 370million euros. It expects this figure to rise by 40% to 50%, or 520 million to 575 million euros. Last year, the bank's recurring returns on tangible equity (ROTE), was 11.3%. The bank exited Russia and Eastern European markets. It also reduced non-performing exposures (NPEs), by restructuring and selling bad debt. "This is a new chapter in the bank's history. Nicolaou stated that we had a high-NPE stigma against us, but it is now an entirely different situation. "We have transformed this bank."