History
The Nicosia Savings Bank or Nicosia Depository (Ταμιευτήριο η Λευκωσία) was founded on 1 January 1899 by a group of Cypriots led by Ioannis Economides, a figure in financial and social circles. The bank was the first Cypriot bank, with all the other banks in Cyprus being foreign-owned. In 1912, it became a public company and changed its name to Bank of Cyprus (BoC). In 1930, BoC incorporated as a limited company and in 1943 it merged with Famagusta Bank and Larnaca Bank (est. 1926).
In 1944, BoC acquired the Melissa Bank, Paphos (est. 1924), and the Mortgage Bank of Cyprus was established. In 1945, BoC merged with the Cyprus Savings Bank (Kypriakon Tomieftiron) (est. 1908). In 1953, BoC merged with Paphos Popular Bank (Paphos Laiki Bank) (est. 1924).
In 1955, BoC opened the London branch, its first branch abroad, and in 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).
In 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. In 1986, BoC opened a representative office in Australia.
- 1991 BoC established its first branch in Greece.
- 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, Ontario, 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 BoC itself rather than a focused subsidiary.
- 1998 BoC established representative offices in New York and Moscow.
2000s
- 2000 BoC established a subsidiary in Australia, the country with the world's largest Greek and Cypriot community. 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 the bid expired.
- 2004 BoC merged its UK branch with its subsidiary Bank of Cyprus (London) Ltd. to form "Bank of Cyprus UK".
- 2005 BoC opened its Pallini branch in eastern Athens, reaching 100 branches in Greece.
- 2007 On 8 October, BoC opened a branch in Moscow, the first Cypriot bank to have banking operations in Russia. In the same year, two branches were opened in Athens (Haidari and Spata).
- 2008 BoC purchased 80% of Uniastrum, the 9th largest bank in Russia, for US$576 million. Gagik Zakarian and George Piskov, founders of Uniastrum, retained a 10% stake each as president and chairman, respectively.
