Bank of Cyprus

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Bank of Cyprus

Type	Public
Founded	1899
Headquarters	Stassinos Street, Strovolos, Nicosia, Cyprus
Industry	Finance and Insurance
Website	www.bankofcyprus.com

The Bank of Cyprus Public Company Ltd was founded in 1899 and is the holding company of the Bank of Cyprus Group. The Bank is the leading financial services organisation in Cyprus, with a dynamic presence in Greece and operations in the United Kingdom and Australia.

The Group offers a wide range of financial products and services, which include banking services in Cyprus, Greece, United Kingdom, Australia and Channel Islands, finance, leasing, factoring, brokerage, fund management, general and life insurance services in Cyprus and Greece, and investment banking services in Cyprus.

As of June 30, 2006, the Bank's market share in total banking system deposits and loans in Cyprus, including credit cooperatives, amounted to 29,5% and 25,9%, respectively. The Bank operates 147 branches in Cyprus 120 in Greece, 10 in Australia, 5 in the United Kingdom and 1 in the Channel Islands.

1 Group Structure
2 International presence
3 Economic data
4 Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation
5 Bank of Cyprus Oncology Center
6 External links

[edit] Group Structure

BANK OF CYPRUS PUBLIC COMPANY LTD Group Holding Company

Banking Services

Bank of Cyprus Public Company Limited (Cyprus-Greece-United Kingdom)

Mortgage Bank of Cyprus Ltd (Cyprus)

Bank of Cyprus Australia Pty Ltd (Australia)

Bank of Cyprus (Channel Islands) Ltd (Guernsey)

Hire Purchase and Leasing Services

Bank of Cyprus Hire Purchase & Leasing Division

Kyprou Leasing SA (Greece)

Kyprou Commercial (Greece)

Factoring Services

Bank of Cyprus Factoring Division

Investment Banking and Related Services

The Cyprus Investment and Securities Corporation Ltd (CISCO) (Cyprus)

Kyprou Securities SA (Greece)

BOC Ventures Ltd (Cyprus)

Asset Management

Bank of Cyprus Mutual Funds Ltd (Cyprus)

Kyprou Mutual Funds Management Company (AEDAK) (Greece)

Insurance Services

General Insurance of Cyprus Ltd (Cyprus-Greece)

EuroLife Ltd (Cyprus-Greece)

Kyprou Insurance Services Ltd (Greece)

Property and Hotel Services

Kermia Ltd (Cyprus)

Kermia Hotels Ltd (Cyprus)

Kermia properties and Investments Ltd (Cyprus)

Kyprou Properties SA (Greece)

Credit Card Processing

JCC Payment Systems Ltd (45% participation) (Cyprus)

[edit] International presence

The Bank has been operating in Greece since 1991. The dynamic expansion of the Bank's Greek operations started in 1999. The Bank operates 115 branches in Greece. As of April 30, 2006, the market share of the Bank in deposits and loans in Greece amounted to 3,57% and 3.89% respectively. Kyprou Leasing, a subsidiary of the Bank, which operates in Greece held the second largest market share in the Greek leasing sector.

The Bank is well established in the United Kingdom, where it operates six branches, to serve the sizeable Cypriot and Greek communities. The Group's international activities were further enhanced in 2000 with the operation of a wholly owned subsidiary bank in Australia, which operates ten branches.

The Bank has representative offices in the United States of America, Canada, South Africa, Russia and Romania, and employs 6.100 staff worldwide.

[edit] Economic data

As of December 31, 2005, the Group's Total Assets reached C£13,22bn (€23,00bn) and the Group's Shareholders' Funds were C£818mn (€1,42bn).

The shares of the Bank are listed on the Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE) and the Athens Stock Exchange. The Bank is the largest listed company on the CSE in terms of market capitalisation and has a well-diversified shareholder base.

Bank of Cyprus will enter the FTSE ATHEX 20 index on 9 October 2006. It will be the 10th largest company in terms of capitalisation and it will have the seventh largest weight of all the index constituents, which is estimated at 6,26% based on data as of 4 October 2006.The FTSE ATHEX 20 constituent changes follow a decision reached yesterday by the Board of Directors of the Athens Exchange. The above development is very positive for Bank of Cyprus, which will constitute an important part of FTSE ATHEX 20, which is a significant reference index for investments on the Athens Stock Exchange.

The Group currently operates through a total of 279 branches, of which 147 operate in Cyprus, 115 in Greece, six in the United Kingdom, ten in Australia and one in the Channel Islands.

[edit] Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation

The Establishment of the Foundation

The Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation was established in 1984, a decade after the Turkish invasion and the ongoing occupation of the northern part of the island. The Foundation was born out of the Bank’s growing concern to assist in the rescue of the island’s cultural heritage, which has been pillaged or stolen by the Turkish forces from the occupied areas, and to promote the Hellenic culture of Cyprus at a professional and scholarly level.

Thus, while the context of all projects undertaken by the Foundation is meant to be Cyprological, i.e. pertaining to Cyprus (art, history, literature, etc.), the philosophy and policy of the Foundation is to promote the Hellenic character of Cyprus, in as much as this is an island of the wider Hellenic world. This assessment does not by any means detract from the unique, historical development of Cyprus from antiquity to the present.

In February 2000 the Greek authorities granted permission for a branch of the Cultural Foundation to be opened in Greece. The branch will have its temporary premises at the administrative headquarters of the Bank of Cyprus in Athens.

The object of the establishment of the branch is to strengthen cooperation between the Cultural Foundation and foundations in Greece and to contribute on a nation wide level, with regard to cultural issues concerning the Hellenic world as a whole.

The Collection of the Foundation

In accordance with the founding act of 1984, all works of art, maps, and coins that belonged to the Bank were transferred to the curatorship of the Foundation in order to be safeguarded and preserved. The original nuclei of these collections are developing into sizable depositories of exceptional quality.

Each of the collections is linked to a long-term project. These projects have far-reaching potential for research, publishing, and public pedagogy through carefully designed educational programmes, specialized lectures and seminars, and temporary and permanent exhibitions.

The Museum of the History of Cypriot Coinage

The Coin Collection

The collection of Cypriot coins by the Bank of Cyprus goes back to the early years after independence when the Board of Directors began to purchase coins from authorized European dealers. Thus in 1984 a small collection of mostly medieval coins was entrusted to the Cultural Foundation. Since then the Foundation has developed an appreciable collection of specimens, listed with the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus. The Museum of the History of Cypriot Coinage The “Museum of the History of Cypriot Coinage” opened its doors to the public in autumn 1995 and is housed at the Bank of Cyprus administrative headquarters.

This permanent exhibition traces the development of Cypriot coinage from the first coins issued during the 6th century B.C. to modern times. Two thousand and six hundred years of turbulent Cypriot history come alive through 370 coins, divided into nine chronological sections and exhibited in twenty showcases. Featuring high-technology methods in order to ensure the safeguarding of the coins’ quality, the museum constitutes the main resource for educational programs in the history of Cyprus.

The educational program organized by the Museum has the general title “Learning the history of Cyprus through its coinage” and consists of two parts: the first is entitled “Ancient Cypriot Coins, from Evelthon to the successors of Alexander the Great” and the second “Byzantine and Medieval Coins of Cyprus”. The two programs are addressed to primary school pupils and are held under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and Culture. Every year more than 4.500 students attend these programs. Guided tours are also organised for other social groups.

The Museum of The George and Nefeli Giabra Pierides Collection

The George and Nefeli Giabra Pierides Collection covers a wide range of the history and archaeology of Cyprus, from the Early Bronze Age (2500 BC) to the end of the Mediaeval period (sixteenth century). This chronological succession of the objects has dictated the structuring of the Collection's presentation in the Museum. Designed to state-of-the-art specifications, its purpose is to highlight age-old Greek civilisation at the southernmost extremity of Europe. The whole Collection, numbering more than 600 items, is exhibited in the Museum. The objects which are not on display in the main show-cases have been collected together in a special case, accessible to researchers and the public. As one of the most important private collections in Cyprus, it is considered unique in possessing superb examples of Mycenaean pottery in the Pictorial Style (fourteenth - thirteenth century BC). Amphora-shaped and bell-shaped krateres (mixing-bowls), prochoi (ewers), kylikes (cups) and phialai (bowls) are decorated with scenes of chariot-races, boxers and bull-fights, as well as of fishes or birds.

Also included in the Collection are notable examples of the Red Polished Style of the Early and Middle Bronze Age (2500-1600 BC). Of particular interest is the pottery, which takes the shape of animals and the unique anthropomorphic vessel. The pottery of the White Slip and Base Ring Style of the Middle and Late Bronze Age (1600-1050 BC), which gave Cyprus pottery 'international' fame, is represented by fine examples. Clay figurines were particularly popular in the Geometric (1050-750 BC) and Archaic period (750-480 BC). The Collection contains decorated lampstands, figurines of horsemen and chariots and female and male votary figures.The Cypriots were always especially fond of pictorial pottery. The vessels of the Geometric (1050-750 BC) and particularly of the Archaic periods (750-480 BC) are typical. The large amphoras in the Bichrome ware and the kylikes decorated with lotus flowers, rosettes and other abstract designs are striking. In the Archaic period, the 'Free - Field style' flourished; in this, human figures, birds, fishes and animals adorn a large part of the vessel's surface. The richest part of the Collection is made up of sculpture in limestone, dating from the early sixth century BC to the Hellenistic period. The colossal heads and the life-size statue of the 6th century are impressive, as are the statuettes of Heracles and Apollo. The numerous group of small heads and the statuettes of the 'temple - boy' type are important items. The cylinder seals of the Late Bronze Age (1600-1050 BC), the seals and the jewellery of all periods are examples of remarkable small-scale art and throw light on various aspects of the social history of Cyprus. The coins of the Classical period (480-310 BC) are evidence, inter alia, for the existence of the city-kingdoms of Cyprus. The glazed ceramics of the mediaeval period (sixteenth century) are fine examples of utensils in everyday use in Cyprus at that period.

Cyprus Map Collection

Upon its establishment, the Foundation acquired twenty-four printed maps of Cyprus, bequeathed by the Bank. Today the collection numbers more than 300 maps and the Foundation is already in possession of the majority of the known printed maps of Cyprus, including city plans and maritime charts. The Foundation has gained international recognition for its contribution to the collection, preservation and public presentation of early maps and for the promotion of scholarly work on historical cartography and in 1990 received an award from the International Map Collectors’ Society (IMCoS).

The map collection of the Foundation was enriched by the donation of two major private collections: The Michaelides Map Collection was donated to the Foundation by the late Agnes Michaelides in 1988. Among the sixty-four items of the Michaelides collection are six different tabulae from various editions of Claudius Ptolemy’s Geography, the earliest dating back to 1525, as well as the first accurate sea-charts of Famagusta harbor, the work of Thomas Graves, published in the second half of the 19th century.

In 1993 Laura Georgiades decided to donate to the Cultural Foundation the map collection belonging to her late husband, Antonakis Georgiades, a collector and a founding member of the Cyprus Map Collectors’ Society. The collection comprises eighty-two items and includes a series of miniature maps of Cyprus originally published in pocket edition atlases of the 16th and 17th century.

Rare Historical Documents Collection

The Foundation’s Rare Historical Documents Collection, focusing on the history of Cyprus, includes manuscripts and printed books, dated from the 16th to the 20th century. The earliest material found in the Collection are letters exchanged between Venetian merchants regarding goods transported through Famagusta harbor between 1407 and 1493.

The printed editions include travel books by Europeans who visited Cyprus during the Frankish (1192-1489), the Venetian (1489-1571) and the Ottoman (1571-1878) periods, historical books of the 16th century written by the official historiographers of Venice, and a series of books regarding the “War of Cyprus” (1570-71). It includes also a group of the so-called “war reports” that circulated in various languages in Europe to inform Europeans on the invasion of Cyprus by the Ottoman Empire.

Art Collections of Cypriot Artists

More than fifty works of art (painting and sculptures) bought over the years by the Bank of Cyprus were transferred to the Cultural Foundation’s safekeeping according to the provision of the 1984 founding act. The ultimate goal is the gradual formation of an art collection providing an overall picture of twentieth-century art in Cyprus. The Collection, numbering over three hundred works of art, is split between the administrative headquarters of the Bank of Cyprus and the Cultural Foundation premises. The rest of the works are on display in various branches and offices of its affiliates. The Foundation’s art collection includes paintings of the first generation of Cypriot artists, such as A. Diamantis (1900-1994), T. Kanthos (1910-1993) and G. Pol. Georgiou (1901-1972). Sculpture, ceramic art, video art, mixed media art, as well as the latest trends in art are represented by artists of all generations in the Foundation’s collection.

The Building

1994 the Cultural Foundation was permanently housed in the old administrative headquarters of the Bank of Cyprus. The building was built in 1936 and is situated near the Phaneromeni Church, in the old town of Nicosia, within the Venetian walls. The ground floor houses the Agora, the Cultural Foundation’s sales point, where the Foundation’s publications and replicas from its collections can be purchased. Also available for purchase are replicas from the National Historical Museum of Greece and the Nicholas P. Goulandris Foundation, Museum of Cycladic and Ancient Greek Art. In the ground floor there is also a temporary exhibitions hall. The first floor houses a 170-seat lecture theatre. The roof-terrace, which has been transformed into the Aerikon cafe-restaurant, offers a unique view of the old town of Nicosia and the Pentadaktylos range. In the Courtyard of the building there is an open air theatre in which are staged musical and theatrical performances. In the near future the Foundation will house a Research Library.

[edit] Bank of Cyprus Oncology Center

Establishment of the Centre

The Centre was created following an agreement, signed in 1992, between the Cyprus Government and the Bank of Cyprus. The agreement provides for the following: Utilisation of a donation by the Bank of Cyprus, of about seven million Cyprus pounds, for the construction and equipping of the Centre. Provision by the Government of land next to Makarios Hospital. Financing of annual operating expenses by the Government. The Centre is an independent legal entity registered as a Charity under the Charities Law, Cap. 41.

Board of Trustees

The Centre is managed by a seven member Board of Trustees. Three Trustees are appointed by the Government and three by the Bank of Cyprus. The Chairman is jointly appointed. Representatives of the Cyprus Anticancer Association and the Cyprus Association of Cancer Patients and Friends sit in attendance.

Mission of the Centre

1. To treat cancer with state-of-the-art services 2. To cooperate with public and private hospitals as well as the cancer voluntary organisations 3. To initiate and participate in prevention and early detection programs 4. To undertake research and to foster continuing education for all the professionals working with cancer patients 5. To develop collaborative links with leading oncology institutes in Europe and North America 6. To evolve as a referral centre for neighbouring countries

Patient services

The Centre provides the following services: Radiotherapy, Chemotherapy, Hormone therapy, Diagnostic examinations, including blood tests and radiological investigations

Organisation

The Centre’s medical services are organised in two main departments. The Department of Radiation Oncology and Diagnostic Radiology which is headed by Dr. med. Demetris Andreopoulos and the Department of Medical Oncology which is headed by Dr. Demetris Papamichael.

Site specialisation

Each patient is cared for by oncologists specialising in particular cancer types. The Centre operates Specialist Oncology Units in the following main cancer types: Breast cancer Cancer of the brain and central nervous system Gastrointestinal cancer Gynaecological cancer Head and neck cancer Lung cancer Lymphomas and leukaemia Sarcomas Skin cancer Urological cancer In addition there are Specialist Oncology Units for some less common diseases such as endocrine cancer as well as for benign tumours. Radiation and medical oncologists work together to achieve the best course of treatment for every individual patient. Each case is presented and reviewed at regular scientific meetings at which all specialists participate. Staff would be happy to explain the system of Specialist Oncology Units and answer any queries.

Equipment and Facilities

The main medical equipment is of the latest technology. It is similar to that found in the leading overseas cancer centres and includes the following:

2 Linear Accelerators

2 Beam View units

1 Superficial treatment unit

1 HDR-Brachytherapy system

1 Simulator

1 Treatment planning system

1 Spiral CT scanner 1 Ultrasound unit

1 Mammography unit

1 Conventional X-ray unit

1 gamma-Camera

The Centre’s facilities also include: 2 Wards for hospitalisation and inpatient treatment (46 beds) Bone marrow transplantation unit (4 beds) Day care unit for chemotherapy (12 beds) Out patient examination/consulting rooms Isolator for the reconstitution of cytotoxic drugs Operating theatre for minor procedures Central Sterile Supply Department Pharmacy and dispensary Laboratory Patient referral and Registration You will be referred to the Centre by your doctor, after a diagnosis has been made. It would be useful if, when you come to the Centre for the first time, you brought with you, if available, relevant documents such as medical reports, biopsy results, blood tests or films of radiological examinations. Registration is simple and fast and is undertaken by the Patient Administration Service. Either yourself, a family member or a friend will need to give the personal details necessary for your registration, including Identity Card / Passport Number. You should also bring with you your Ministry of Health Medical Card, if you have one.