Cyprus Business Now: banks, beers, government surplus, CySEC, tourism

Source: cyprus-mail.com

Cyprus recorded a €1.61 billion general government surplus in the first nine months of 2026, an increase of €442.1 million compared with the same period last year, according to preliminary figures released on Tuesday by the statistical service (Cystat).

The surplus reached 4 per cent of GDP between January and September 2026, compared with €1.17bn, representing 3 per cent of GDP, during the corresponding period of 2025.

The improvement came as government revenue increased considerably faster than expenditure, supported mainly by higher receipts from income taxes, social contributions and VAT.

Total government revenue rose by €737.9m to €12.09bn, marking a 6.5 per cent increase from €11.35bn in the first nine months of 2025.

Five wedding planners from Poland are visiting Paphos between November 2-5, as part of an initiative aimed at promoting the district as a leading wedding and honeymoon destination in the Mediterranean.

The four-day familiarisation trip, organised by the Paphos regional tourism board (Etap Paphos), forms part of ongoing efforts to strengthen the district’s appeal to couples seeking locations for wedding ceremonies and honeymoon holidays.

According to Etap Paphos, the visit is designed to give professionals from the Polish market first-hand experience of the facilities, services and distinctive venues available across the district.

During their stay, the five wedding planners will visit hotel resorts and meet municipal officials responsible for conducting civil wedding ceremonies.

Their programme will also include visits to traditional venues, other wedding locations and historical monuments, showcasing the range of settings available for couples planning ceremonies in the area.

In Dublin, Guinness discovered a rather splendid way of making money. First, it sells the world its famous black stout. Then, it charges tourists at least €24 to discover how the family behind it became fabulously wealthy.

And judging by the crowds at St James’s Gate, nobody seems particularly bothered about paying.

More than 260 years after Arthur Guinness signed one of the most extraordinary leases in commercial history, his old brewery has become one of Ireland’s best-known tourist attractions, a marketing machine and a valuable part of a global drinks business.

The family has long since surrendered control. The fortune has passed through generations, the company has changed hands and Guinness now belongs to multinational drinks giant Diageo.

The story, though, is still earning its keep.

For Cyprus, which has its own brewing institution in Keo, centuries of winemaking history and a tourism industry searching for ways to make visitors spend more, there is a rather interesting business lesson in all this.

Limassol’s planned regeneration of its coastal waterfront behind the port will be the focus of a November 10 investment dialogue examining how state-backed guarantees and public-private financing can help unlock private capital for major urban development projects.

The event, titled ‘Better Funding Dialogue in Cyprus‘ and set to take place at the Panos Solomonides Cultural Centre from 9.30am to 1.30pm, will bring together municipal and national authorities, financial institutions, investors and businesses to explore how the regeneration of Aktaia Odos can be turned into an investable project.

The discussions will centre on the use of state-backed guarantees, risk-sharing and blended finance to reduce investment risks, lower the cost of capital and encourage private and institutional investors to participate in climate-neutral urban transformation.

The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) has reached a €40,000 settlement with Daventryx Limited over a possible breach of rules governing the provision of administrative services, following an investigation covering almost seven years.

The settlement, announced on Tuesday, relates to the company’s compliance with legislation regulating administrative service providers between September 20, 2018, and August 8, 2025.

The Cypriot regulator said the investigation focused on whether Daventryx Limited had complied with the prohibition on providing administrative services through persons who are not eligible to do so.

The settlement was agreed on September 28, 2026, under the Law Regulating Companies Providing Administrative Services and Related Matters of 2012, as amended.

European investment platform Freedom24 plans to open an office in Geneva in the first quarter of 2027, as its parent company Freedom Holding Corp seeks to strengthen its links with Switzerland’s financial, technology and research sectors.

The company, which is part of Nasdaq-listed Freedom Holding Corp (FRHC), intends to establish a local team and develop relationships with financial institutions, technology companies and research organisations across Switzerland.

The move follows discussions in Geneva on how the country’s artificial intelligence research could be connected with investment, computing infrastructure and commercial opportunities.

Freedom24 said Geneva offered a combination of international finance, wealth management, institutional trust and research expertise, making it a suitable base for expanding its European presence.

Cyprus residents continue to receive some of the lowest interest rates on their savings in the eurozone, while businesses and households taking out loans face borrowing costs broadly in line with European averages, according to figures published by the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) on Tuesday.

The CBC’s latest analysis of monetary and financial statistics highlights a persistent imbalance in how banks pass on changes in interest rates to depositors and borrowers, with deposit rates in Cyprus among the lowest in the eurozone and the transmission of interest rate increases and decreases to savings accounts remaining weaker than in almost all other member states.

The findings come despite some improvement in deposit returns in September, when banks increased the average interest rate on new household deposits with an agreed maturity of up to one year to 1.62 per cent, from 1.35 per cent in August.

For non-financial corporations, the corresponding rate increased to 1.70 per cent, compared with 1.56 per cent the previous month.

The National Bank of Greece will announce its nine-month financial results on November 4, 2026, after the market closes, with investors also due to hear a presentation of the figures during a conference call scheduled for 6pm local time.

The announcement, issued on Monday, confirms the timing of the bank’s third-quarter results, which will cover the period ending September 30.

The conference call will take place at 18.00 Cyprus and Greek time, with the bank set to present and discuss its financial performance with investors and analysts.

The results announcement follows an updated financial calendar published by the National Bank of Greece last week, which included the November 4 reporting date and the timetable for an interim dividend.

Cyprus’ tourism industry has suffered a sharper setback from the war in the Middle East than Greece’s, with revenues falling during the first eight months of 2026 while its larger neighbour recorded double-digit growth in both receipts and visitor numbers.

Greek tourism generated €18.2 billion in revenue and attracted 28.5 million travellers between January and August, increases of 9.4 per cent and 10 per cent respectively compared with the same period last year.

Cyprus, by contrast, earned €2.32 billion from tourism during the first eight months, down 6.2 per cent from €2.47 billion in 2025, while arrivals in the first nine months fell by 5.6 per cent year-on-year.

The contrasting performances underline how the geopolitical crisis affected destinations differently, despite both facing uncertainty linked to the conflict.

Europe’s businesses are expecting to sell more in 2027, both at home and abroad. That should be good news. The trouble is, they are far less convinced about what comes next, with confidence weakening, investment still struggling and employers reluctant to take on more staff.

That rather uncomfortable contradiction emerged in Dublin on Tuesday, where Eurochambres CEO Ben Butters presented the Eurochambres Economic Survey 2027 during the SME and Clusters Assembly 2026.

The findings, unveiled during the ‘Competitive Enterprise’ panel, draw on the views of more than 40,000 entrepreneurs across 27 European countries, offering a revealing picture of a business community that continues to trade despite growing doubts about the economic environment.

According to the latest survey, expectations for both domestic and export sales have moved into positive territory for the first time in recent editions, with both exceeding their ten-year averages.

It is an encouraging development for European companies, particularly after several years of economic disruption, rising operating costs and uncertainty over international trade.

The Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) has introduced a 1 per cent systemic risk buffer for all authorised credit institutions in Cyprus, effective from December 31, 2026, in a move aimed at strengthening the banking sector’s resilience against structural vulnerabilities and potential financial shocks.

The decision was taken under the Macroprudential Oversight of Institutions Law of 2015, as amended, with the CBC acting as the designated authority responsible for implementing macroprudential measures.

The buffer will apply to all exposures across all authorised credit institutions operating in the Republic of Cyprus, rather than being limited to specific banks or categories of lending.

The CBC said it had identified several structural vulnerabilities within the Cypriot banking system which could contribute to the build-up of systemic risks and threaten financial stability.

The Bank of Cyprus is expected to report net profits of €119 million for the third quarter of 2026, with higher interest income and continued lending growth helping offset rising operating costs, according to an estimate by investment firm Alpha Finance-AXIA.

The forecast points to stable profits compared with the same period last year, although earnings are expected to decline by 9 per cent from the second quarter.

Alpha Finance-AXIA has reiterated its Buy / High Risk recommendation on the bank and maintained its target price at €12.30 per share.

Based on a share price of €10.59 at the time of its report, the investment firm estimates a potential total return of 21 per cent, including the expected dividend.

Demetra Holdings Plc bought back 1,769 of its own shares on November 2, 2026, at a price of €1.32 per share, the company announced on Tuesday.

The share buyback was carried out through the Cyprus Investment & Securities Corporation Ltd (CISCO), in accordance with an authorisation granted by the company’s annual general meeting on June 30, 2026.

The transactions took place during the November 2 trading session and comprised five separate purchases.

The largest transaction involved the acquisition of 450 shares, while 446 shares were purchased in another transaction.

Eurobank and Alpha Bank could have further room for share-price gains following their third-quarter results, with Swiss investment bank UBS maintaining buy recommendations on both lenders while highlighting their growing operations in Cyprus and other international markets.

In its latest report, the findings of which were shared by Greek news outlet Newmoney, UBS kept its price targets unchanged at €5.40 for Eurobank and €5.20 for Alpha Bank, implying potential upside of around 21 per cent and 18 per cent respectively, excluding dividends.

The bank’s positive assessment is underpinned by stronger core banking income, expanding lending and a growing contribution from acquisitions, although it identifies different drivers for the two groups.

For Eurobank, UBS points to its regional expansion and earnings momentum, while Alpha Bank’s outlook is expected to become clearer following an investor presentation on November 5, when the lender is due to outline an updated business plan and medium-term targets.

Students and university teams presented technology-driven ideas for improving urban life in Paphos, as the municipality awarded the winners of its ‘Paphos 2.0 – Young people design the next version of the city’ innovation competition on Tuesday.

The awards ceremony took place at Paphos municipal hall, bringing together representatives of the municipality, its youth council and the competition’s participants, with projects focusing on artificial intelligence (AI), sustainability, culture and urban mobility.

According to a municipality announcement, the ceremony was attended by acting mayor Angelos Onisiforou, Paphos Municipal Youth Council president Antonis Christodoulou and Sports and Youth Committee chairwoman Anthi Leonidou Stroppou.

The competition was organised by the Paphos Municipal Youth Council as part of Erasmus Days 2026, with sponsorship from the Foundation for the Management of European Lifelong Learning Programmes (IDEP).

Its objective was to give school pupils and university students an opportunity to demonstrate their creativity and develop innovative proposals using emerging technologies and artificial intelligence.

Cyta has expanded its digital services portfolio with the launch of new smart home and business solutions, becoming the first telecommunications provider in Cyprus to enter the market with an integrated offering powered by its fibre-optic network.

The telecommunications provider said its new CONNECTED home and CONNECTED business services would allow households and businesses to monitor and manage their premises remotely through a unified digital platform called Connected by Cyta.

Available through a mobile application and web portal, the platform enables users to control connected devices, create automated functions and receive real-time notifications about activity at their properties.

The available ecosystem includes security cameras, motion sensors and door-opening sensors, as well as smart locks, lighting, smart plugs and automation systems for shutters and shading.

Cyta said the services were designed to be adaptable to the requirements of individual households and businesses, allowing customers to select the devices and automation features best suited to their premises.