NICOSIA: Cyprus's largest lender returned to the Nicosia and Athens stock markets Tuesday after a 21-month absence following a banking crisis that brought the island's economy to its knees.
But early trades in Bank of Cyprus shares ensured a bumpy ride for the return of the country's top financial company.
In early trading, BoC was down 8.75 percent at 21.9 euro cents on the Cyprus Stock Exchange.
Some 8.9 billion BoC shares resumed trading on the CSE and the Athens bourse priced at 24 euro cents.
When it ceased trading on March 15, 2013, amid an international bailout crisis, the share price closed at 21 cents.
BoC shares are viewed as a new listing and will not be subject to limit-up or limit-down CSE regulations for the first three days of trade, officials said.
This means stock exchange authorities will not intervene if there are fluctuations of 15 percent in any direction.
In March last year, Cyprus clinched a 10-billion-euro ($13 billion) loan from the European Union and International Monetary Fund to bail out its troubled economy and oversized banking system.
Under the deal, the government closed the island's second-largest bank, Laiki, and imposed a 47.5 percent "haircut" on deposits of more than 100,000 euros at BoC.
The bank has since undergone major restructuring, which included absorbing Laiki's good assets.
In August, BoC successfully raised 1 billion euros from private investors, including from US billionaire Wilbur Ross who was voted in as vice chairman last month with former Deutsche Bank boss Josef Ackermann as the new chairman.
For the first time in its long history, the BoC board has a majority of non-Cypriot executives.
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