NICOSIA: Cypriot lender Bank of Cyprus posted a net profit of 29 million euros ($31.85 million) in the first quarter of 2015, and said it was considering ways to raise funds to cut its debt to the European Central Bank.
The bank, Cyprus's largest, said it was assessing the possibility of raising wholesale funding, with the proceeds to be used to reduce emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) channelled through the ECB.
It assumed the ELA debt when it was forced to acquire assets of now-defunct Laiki Bank in the midst of Cyprus's financial crisis in early 2013.
In a written statement, Chief Executive John Hourican said any issue would depend on "market conditions and investor appetite".
"We have made good progress against our strategic objectives during the first quarter, most notably reducing ELA by 500 million to 6.9 billion, and to a current level of 6.4 billion," he said.
In March 2013, the bank was forced to assume assets of Laiki and its ELA debt, which at that point exceeded 9 billion euros. Altogether, the ELA debt was 11.4 billion.
In early 2013, Bank of Cyprus became the first bank in the euro zone compelled to seize investors' deposits to stay afloat as a condition for a 10 billion euro bailout Cyprus received from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. It had racked up billions in losses on exposure to Greece.
By mid-2014, the bank successfully raised 1 billion euros in capital from private investors, including US financier Wilbur Ross and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
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