Cyprus Business Now

The Bank of Cyprus on Thursday announced that, as part of its efforts to enhance security through technological solutions, will now notify its customers by push notifications and not by text messages (SMS) when a card transaction has taken place.

“This particular development enhances the user’s experience whilst at the same time strengthens the security level of the transactions, since Push Notifications have certain features and capabilities that SMS messages do not have,” the bank said, explaining that push notifications are encrypted, while regular text messages are not.

Additionally, the bank mentions the way text messages are used by fraudsters to extract private information and funds from customers, something which push notifications prevent.

“It is now common for fraudsters to send SMS messages, pretending to be banking institutions or merchants, thus managing to extract sensitive information from their holders such as card details,” the bank explained.

Furthermore, beyond the aspect of better security, the Bank of Cyprus also said that push notifications can be sent and received in a much swifter fashion than traditional text messages.

Finally, the bank noted that customers who do not have the 1Bank application installed on their mobile phones will continue to receive notifications through text messages.

Total new loans in Cyprus increased to €437.4 million in February 2022, compared to €289.3 million the month before, according to data released by the Central Bank of Cyprus on Thursday.

New consumer loans increased to €12.2 million, compared to €11.7 million last month. New home loans increased to €150.4 million, compared to €104.6 million in January.

New loans to non-financial corporations for amounts of up to €1 million increased to €43.7 million, compared to € 34.4 million last month, while new loans to non-financial corporations for amounts exceeding €1 million rose to €224.9 million, compared to €128.9 million in the previous month.

According to the data, the interest rate on consumer loans increased to 3.19 per cent, compared to 3.10 per cent in the previous month, while the interest rate on home loans decreased to 2.14 per cent, compared to 2.15 per cent.

On the other hand, the interest rate on loans to non-financial corporations for amounts up to €1 million increased to 3.24 per cent, compared to 3.21 per cent in the previous month, while the interest rate for loans to non-financial corporations for amounts exceeding €1 million also increased to 3.16 per cent, compared to 2.86 per cent in the previous month.

The Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE) ended Thursday, March 31 with losses.

The main Cyprus Stock Market Index was at 66.83 points at 12:43 during the day, reflecting a fall of 0.22 per cent over the previous day of trading.

The FTSE / CySE 20 Index was at 40.17 points, which represents a decrease of 0.22 per cent.

The total value of transactions came up to €25,696.

In terms of the sub-indexes, the main index fell by 0.17 per cent, while the alternative and investment firm indexes rose by 0.07 per cent and 1.41 per cent. The hotel index remained stable.

The biggest investment interest was attracted by Logicom (+0.51 per cent), the Bank of Cyprus (-1.86 per cent), Hellenic Bank (no change), Demetra (+1.52 per cent) and Leptos Calypso Hotels (no change).