Newsroom
Bank of Cyprus made €252 million in after-tax profit during the first six months of 2026, marking a 7% increase from the same period last year.
Behind the headline figure is a simple message: more people and businesses are borrowing, customer deposits are growing, and very few loans are falling into serious difficulty.
The bank’s loan portfolio grew by 8% compared with last year and by 5% since the beginning of 2026. Demand came from customers in Cyprus as well as international companies doing business through the island.
Deposits followed the same upward path. The bank held €22.8 billion in customer deposits at the end of June, up 9% from a year earlier and 3% since the start of 2026. Most of that money comes from ordinary retail customers.
The increase comes as Cypriot savers continue to receive some of the lowest deposit rates in the eurozone, despite banks holding large amounts of available cash.
Bank of Cyprus reported €9 billion in excess liquidity at the end of June, slightly higher than the €8.9 billion recorded three months earlier. In practical terms, the bank has substantially more cash available than it needs to meet its immediate obligations.
Its bad-loan ratio also fell to just 1%, a sharp contrast with the years following Cyprus’ 2013 banking crisis, when unpaid loans weighed heavily on the country’s financial system.
The bank kept its cost-to-income ratio at 36%, meaning it spent about 36 cents for every euro of income it generated. Its return on tangible equity, a measure of how effectively the bank uses shareholders’ money, reached 18.8%, beating its target for the year.
Shareholders will also receive a larger interim dividend. The bank announced a payment of €0.24 per share, 20% higher than last year’s corresponding payout.
That dividend represents 44% of the profits recorded during the first half of the year. Management said it remains committed to returning 70% of annual profit to shareholders, with the possibility of distributing an additional amount equal to as much as 20% of its 2026 earnings.
For customers, the figures show a bank that is lending more, holding more deposits and carrying far fewer troubled loans. For shareholders, the message is even clearer: higher profits are bringing a bigger payout.
