Only three years ago, Bank of Cyprus was on the critical list. Just €800m of emergency funding from the central bank still needs to be repaid, a small sum compared with the €11.4bn – equivalent to 70% of the country’s GDP – that was required to keep it afloat in 2013. Announced in the early hours of 25 March 2013, the bailout terms Nicosia accepted from the EU, IMF and European Central Bank were harsh. One Bank of Cyprus official describes it as “shrinking to strength”. “Trust has recovered significantly: people feel very committed to returning money,” the bank official said.

Source: The Guardian November 19, 2016 16:02 UTC