company ltd native name type public company traded as cse bocy athex boc industry banking financial services founded 1899 headquarters strovolos nicosia cyprus number of locations 130 h1 2016 area served cyprus uk key people josef ackermann chairman wilbur ross vice chairman john hourican ceo products retail and business banking credit cards mortgage loans corporate banking factoring insurance brokerage private banking wealth management investment management investment banking . revenue 641 million h1 2016 1 operating income 254 million h1 2016 1 profit 56 million h1 2016 1 total assets 22.67 billion h1 2016 1 total equity 3.05 billion h1 2016 1 common equity tier 1 capital 13.6 % fully loaded basel iii number of employees 4 279 h1 2016 1 subsidiaries general insurance cyprus eurolife cyprus website www.bankofcyprus.com bank of cyprus greek is a major cypriot financial institution . in terms of market capitalisation of 1.26 billion euro on 29 september 2016 it is the country s biggest bank . as at june 2016 the bank held a 29 % share of the cypriot deposit market euro 13.3 billion and a 41.4 % share of the cypriot loan market euro 19.2 billion making it the largest bank in cyprus . the bank of cyprus group employs 4 279 staff worldwide and 4 000 in cyprus . contents 1 current operations 2 history 4 3 cultural foundation 4 awards 5 recent uk history 6 oncology center 7 controversy 8 deposit tax and bailout or bailin 9 references 10 external links current operations edit the group currently operates through a total of 130 branches business offices of which 125 operate in cyprus four in the united kingdom euro 1.17 billion in loans one in romania euro 262 million net exposure . the group has representative offices in greece euro 377 million net exposure russia euro 42 million net exposure 2 ukraine and china . 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 october 8 2007 the bank of cyprus has been part of the cyprus 10 index which comprises the 10 largest companies in cyprus . the bank of cyprus is also listed on the athens exchange and had been part of the ftse athex large cap index from 9 october 2006 until march 2013 . 3 the four largest shareholders as at december 2014 are cyprus popular bank public co ltd with a holding of 9.624 % renova group with a holding of 8 % td asset management with a holding of 5.232 % and the european bank for reconstruction and development with a holding of 5.021 % . all except the cyprus popular bank have a seat on the board of directors . the bank adopted as its emblem the ancient cypriot coin bearing the inscription common to all cypriots . history 4 edit bank of cyprus headquarters next to central bank of cyprus bank of cyprus new offices in aglandjia suburb of nicosia 1899 on january 1 1899 a group of progressive and visionary cypriots led by ioannis economides a significant figure in financial and social circles founded the nicosia savings bank or nicosia depository . this is the first cypriot bank ; all the other banks in cyprus are foreign owned . 1912 the nicosia savings bank became a public company and changed its name to bank of cyprus boc three years after the its shareholders had applied to the high commissioner in 1909 . 1930 the boc incorporated as a limited company . 1943 the boc amalgamated with famagusta bank and larnaca bank est. 1926 . 1944 the boc acquired the melissa bank paphos est. 1924 . the mortgage bank of cyprus was established . 1945 boc merged with the cyprus savings bank kypriakon tomieftiron which had been established in nicosia in 1908 . 1953 boc merged with paphos popular bank paphos laiki bank est. 1924 . 1955 boc opened its first branch abroad when it opened in london to serve the cypriot community there . 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 . 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 . 1986 boc opened a representative office in australia . 1991 boc established its first branch in greece . kolonaki branch was located at the corner of vasilissis sophias avenue and sekeri street and also boasted a business banking centre and the bank s treasury . in the summer of 2009 this and mitropoleos street branches were merged to form the new syntagma square branch which retains branch code 001 . 1995 boc opened a representative office in south africa and a branch in heraklion crete . 1996 boc established bank of cyprus channel islands in guernsey and a representative office in toronto canada located in the heart of greektown in toronto to serve mainly the greek cypriot community . a subsidiary company cyprus leasing s.a. was established in greece to deal with leasing activities . it is now the second largest of its kind in greece . in cyprus leasing activities are carried out by a dedicated department of the boc itself rather than a focused subsidiary . 1998 boc established representative offices in new york and moscow and then another in bucharest romania . 2000 boc established a subsidiary in australia the country with the world s largest greek and cypriot community . the community which numbers around 600 000 people is concentrated in melbourne and sydney . boc had long had a presence in the australian market through its representative offices in sydney melbourne adelaide and brisbane . boc also opened a representative office in bucharest . boc bid for interbank in new york for about 43 million . interbank was 78 % owned by greek businessman dimitris kontominas and the remaining equity was dispersed among three other shareholders . with four branches in new york including the astoria queens area where there is a strong greek presence the bank catered to the greek american community . the u.s. federal reserve withheld its approval and bid expired . 2004 boc merged its uk branch with its subsidiary bank of cyprus london ltd. the combined business is known as bank of cyprus uk . 2005 boc opened its pallini branch in eastern athens thereby reaching 100 branches in greece . 2007 on 8 october boc announced that it had opened a branch in moscow making it the first cypriot bank to have banking operations in russia . in the same year the opening of two new branches in athens haidari and spata meant that the branches in greece outnumbered those in cyprus . 2008 boc purchased 80 % of uniastrum the 9th largest bank in russia for us 576 million . 5 uniastrum bank had over 220 branches throughout russia and continued to operate under its own name which however was linked with that of the bank of cyprus group . just at that time funds under uniastrum management went bankrupt . investors lost us 100 million . 2008 boc acquired 97 % of the share capital of avtozazbank in ukraine which operated through 26 branches and 18 seasonal cash offices located in ukraine s four main regions . the bank traded under the bank of cyprus name . 2010 the bank of cyprus decided to establish a banking unit in the dubai international financial centre difc in the emirate of dubai in the united arab emirates . it also established a representative office in india . in cyprus ayios lazaros branch in larnaca closed due to the forthcoming demolition of the building housing it . despite the harsh economic downturn in greece the network there continues to grow with the opening of 20 branches throughout greece with 10 those to be located in greater athens five in salonica and five in other areas . 2011 bank of cyprus sold bank of cyprus australia to bendigo and adelaide bank . the former bank of cyprus australia is now known as delphi bank . 2012 bank of cyprus uk became a subsidiary regulated by the financial services authority . under pressure from the central bank of cyprus ceo andreas eliades and deputy ceo yiannis pehlivanides resigned as bank of cyprus could not reach by private means the 9 % core tier 1 capital by 30 june 2012 that the european banking authority had required . eliades s replacement was yiannis kypri . later chairman theodoros aristodemou resigned and was replaced by andreas artemi . the bank was also forced to re consider its strategy of rapid international expansion . 2012 2013 due to the harsh economic downturn in both cyprus and greece the bank of cyprus began downsizing its network in greece by closing branches with the greater athens area most affected closures as at march 2013 were the branches at omonia square phidippides street america square gyzi tavros petralona kessariani nea ionia yerakas spata peania drapetsona ayios ierotheos and keratea . three branches were closed in salonica nikis street stavros and ionia one in patra acrotiriou street leaving the corinth street and ayea branches in operation one in heraclion crete 62 martyrs avenue asklipiou street in trikala which was merged with the town s other branch at 28 october street the corfu harbour branch was merged with the corfu town branch ialyssos branch on the island of rhodes was absorbed by the rhodes town branch while the towns of alexandria in northern greece and loutraki became devoid of bank of cyprus branches altogether . in most cases the atms of the branches were either retained on site or transferred to nearby premises to allow former customers some form of access to their accounts . in addition to downsizing the network the bank reduced its staff by 300 by way of voluntary redundancy but aimed to further reduce its number of branches first to 110 from 166 and then closing all of its smaller branches with up to five staff maintaining only a small number of branches in key locations . on 26 march 2013 the greek branches of the bank along with those of cpb bank the greek arm of the now defunct laiki bank and hellenic bank were sold to piraeus bank . unlike other banks in the piraeus bank group e.g. geniki bank which retained for a while its corporate identity the bank of cyprus brand was replaced in the ex bank of cyprus branches by the piraeus bank corporate identity . on 29 march 2013 the loan business advances of cyprus popular bank public co ltd laiki uk pursuant to a legal decree put in place by the cypriot authorities was transferred to bank of cyprus public co ltd bank of cyprus . also the romanian operations apart from head office and some loans were taken over by marfin romania . 2013 the good cypriot parts of cyprus popular bank were merged into the new bank of cyprus . on 27 march 2013 the board and ceo were replaced . a special administrator was put in place dinos christophides for 4 months to oversee the merger with the good parts of cyprus popular bank . a new interim board with dr sophocles michaeilides as chairman and interim ceo christos sorotos were put in place for 3 months to replace the special administrator to lead the back to a new annual general meeting on 10 september 2013 and to oversee the bail in of depositors and to restructure and downsize the new bank . staff salaries were cut up to 30 % and a voluntary retirement