More positive news for the economy of the country following the news that leading rating agencies Fitch and Standard & Poor raised Cyprus’s credit rating.
Three out of four Cypriot banks that took a stress test have passed the test. Bank of Cyprus, Central Cooperative and Russian Commercial Bank all showed a capital surplus. The Cooperative Bank recorded a surplus of € 331 million, Russian Commercial Bank a surplus of € 112 million and the Bank of Cyprus an €81 million surplus. Only Hellenic Bank showed a deficit of €105 million. Hellenic Bank stated that measures are being taken to increase its capital through pre-emptive rights.
The results of the test, announced by the European Central Bank on the 26th of October, showed that the Common Equity Tier in the baseline scenario, which was set at an index of 8%, had peaked at 11.6% for the Bank of Cyprus, at 14.1% for the Central Cooperative, at 15 7% for Russian Commercial Bank and at 8.4% for Hellenic Bank. Only around one in five of the 130 Euro zone Banks that took the stress test failed.