Cyprus Business Now

The Cypriot banking system incurred losses after tax of €36 million, on a consolidated basis, in the first half of 2022, compared to profits of €22.54 million in the corresponding period of 2021, according to a report released this week by the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC).

According to the data, which have a reference date of September 30 2022, total net operating profits stood at €916.3 million in the first half of 2022, compared to € 939.5 million in the corresponding period of 2021.

Moreover, banks’ interest income during the nine months of 2022 remained roughly unchanged at €831 million, compared to €838 million in the corresponding period last year.

The steady course of interest income reflects the increase in key ECB interest rates, which offset the ongoing deleveraging of loans in the banking system.

What is more, the total administrative expenses significantly increased during the first nine months of 2022, amounting to €689.5 million, compared to €619 million in the corresponding period last year.

In relation to this, staff costs experienced a significant increase, reaching €467.5 million, compared to €388 million in the first half of 2021, reflecting the costs of the voluntary exit schemes implemented at both the Bank of Cyprus and Hellenic Bank.

The consolidated results include Ancoria Bank, Astrobank, the Bank of Cyprus, CDB, Hellenic Bank, and the Housing Finance Organisation.

It should be noted that RCB ceased its banking operations following a decision by the European Central Bank (ECB) on February 24, 2022.

In addition to the above domestic banking institutions, the aggregated data also covers subsidiaries of foreign credit institutions from EU countries, subsidiaries of foreign credit institutions from non-EU countries, branches of foreign credit institutions from EU countries and branches of foreign credit institutions from non-EU countries that are active in Cyprus.

The overall vacancy rate in Cyprus reached 2.2 per cent in the third quarter of 2022, the lowest since the first quarter of 2021, when it stood at 2 per cent, according to data released by the Cyprus Statistical Service (Cystat) on Wednesday.

In the previous quarter, vacancies stood at 2.7 per cent, while in the third quarter of 2021 they reached 2.4 per cent.

According to the data, the number of job vacancies in the third quarter of 2022 amounted to 9,174 vacancies, up by 2,816 or 44.3 per cent compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year when they stood at 6,358.

Compared to the second quarter of 2022, a decrease of 1,939 positions or 17.4 per cent was observed.

The highest vacancy rates in the third quarter of 2022 were observed in the sectors of accommodation services and catering services with 4.6 per cent vacancies, transport and storage with 4.5 per cent, water supply, wastewater treatment, waste management and activities consolidation with 3.5 per cent, as well as information and communication with 2.7 per cent.

The Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE) ended Wednesday, December 14 with losses.

The general Cyprus Stock Market Index was at 89.05 points at 13:18 during the day, reflecting a drop of 0.60 per cent over the previous day of trading.

The FTSE / CySE 20 Index was at 53.65 points, representing a decrease of 0.61 per cent.

The total value of transactions came up to €15,375.

In terms of the sub-indexes, the alternative index rose by 0.04 per cent, while the main and investment firm indexes fell by 0.75 per cent and 0.38 per cent respectively. The hotel remained stable.

The biggest investment interest was attracted by Hellenic Bank (no change), Vassiliko Cement Works Public Company (-0.78 per cent), the Cyprus Cement Company (no change), Atlantic Insurance (+1.94 per cent) and Louis Plc (-8.82 per cent).