Bank of Cyprus

Bank of Cyprus (, ) is a Cypriot financial services company established in 1899 and headquartered in Strovolos.
Current operations.
The Bank of Cyprus currently operates through a total of 108 branches/business offices, of which all operate in Cyprus. The group has representative offices in Romania (€33 million net exposure) Greece, (€309 million exposure) Russia, (€21 million net exposure) Ukraine and China. It is the largest bank in Cyprus by market penetration, with 83% of Cypriots having active Bank of Cyprus accounts, representing a 60% share in total corporate accounts and a 40% share of the overall banking sector.
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 was also listed on the Athens Exchange since 2000 and had been part of the FTSE/Athex Large Cap index from 9 October 2006 until March 2013. However, in late 2016 it has announced plans to de-list from Athens on 9 January 2017 and list on the London Stock Exchange in January 2017.
Controversy.
Bank of Cyprus (Romania) announced in mid-December 2009 that it had purchased 9.7 per cent of TLV's (Banca Transilvania) shares for EUR 58M, and in May 2010 expressed interest in taking over 20 per cent of the bank's stock. DIICOT, the body that investigates organized crime and terrorism, charged the head of Banca Transilvania's administration council, Horia Ciorcila, and the head of Bank of Cyprus (Romania), Georgios Christofourou, with stock market manipulation and money laundering in this transaction. DIICOT also charged a former vice-president of the administration council or Banca Transilvania, Claudiu Silaghi, along with other individuals. Bank of Cyprus (Romania) denied any wrongdoing. The Bucharest Tribunal acquitted Ciorcila and Christofourou on 4 July 2011, as did the Bucharest Court of Appeal on 27 June 2012. On 2 July 2014, the Romanian High Court of Justice rejected the second appeal made by DIICOT, as ungrounded. Consequently, the acquittal decisions issued by the Bucharest Tribunal (2011) and Court of Appeal (2012), have been maintained, confirming the full acquittal of all the defendants. The decision of the Romanian High Court of Justice is final.
Deposit tax and bailout or bailin.
A decision was imposed by EU finance ministers to force depositors in Cyprus to take a loss (bail in), in order to help fund an International Monetary Fund and euro zone bailout (bail-in in the case of Bank of Cyprus: with 47.5% of uninsured depositors, above 100,000 Euro, contributing to the bank's recapitalization).