27/08/2019 16:18
The Bank of Cyprus announced on Tuesday that it has posted profit after tax of €2 mn for the 2nd quarter of 2019 and €97 mn for the 1st half of the year.
The Bank said that the non performing exposure (NPE) ratio has been reduced to 33%, while coverage increased to 50%. NPEs stood at €4.3 bn (€2.2 bn net), with a 71% reduction since 2014.
The BoC reported a €300 mn NPE reduction in the 2nd quarter of 2019 and €457 mn in the 1st half of the year.
Total Capital ratio stood at 18.1% and CET1 ratio at 15.2%.
It also said that the completion of the sale of €2.7 bn NPEs (Project Helix) added 140 bps to capital in the 2nd quarter.
“We completed the sale of €2.7 bn non-performing loans in Project Helix in June, which added 140 bps of capital. Our on-going organic non-performing exposure reduction amounted to €300 mn for the quarter, bringing total organic reduction in the first half of 2019 to €457 mn, in line with our organic target of €800 mn for 2019. This was the seventeenth consecutive quarter of organic reductions in NPEs”, the Bank’s outgoing Group Chief Executive John Patrick Hourican has stated.
He also said that the Bank’s capital position remains good.
Hourican noted that during the quarter our deposits remained broadly flat at €16.4 bn and that the cost of deposits reduced by 8 bps. “In the second quarter of 2019 new lending rose 13% from the prior year to €548 mn, helping support the continued growth in the Cypriot economy. Overall in the first half of 2019, we lent €1.1 bn to customers in Cyprus. Our loan to deposit ratio at the quarter-end stood at 67%. The Bank continues to operate with a significant liquidity surplus, which at the end of the second quarter amounted to €3.8 bn”.
The BoC also announced that on 26 August the European Central Bank approved the appointment of Panicos Nicolaou as the Group Chief Executive Officer and Executive Member of the Board of Directors of Bank of Cyprus Public Company Limited. The appointment is also effective for the Board of Directors of BOC Holdings.
Panicos Nicolaou will take up his duties on 1 September 2019.
The BoC also announced a revision of its organizational structure, organizing the Group along the structural areas of Functions, Business and Legacy to create more focus and better alignment with the key objectives of the Group.
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