Bank of Cyprus’ board of directors decided to extend chief executive officer John Patrick Hourican’s contract for two more years.

British multinational oil and gas company BG Group has acquired a 35% stake in Cyprus’ offshore Block 12, following an agreement with concession holder and operator Noble Energy.

Only months after receiving an award from the European Business Awards as a National Champion in Innovation for the years 2015-16, hi-tech engineering company CyRIC has also been ranked by the European Research Ranking as the top organisation for research in Cyprus.

The island’s five golf courses brought in only 25,000 golfers out of a total number of tourist arrivals of almost 2.5 million last year, according to a recent analysis by a local paper.

Reliable and transparent procedures with regard to the management of public resources is a prerequisite for restoring citizens' and investors' confidence in the Cypriot economy, Minister of Finance Harris Georgiades said recently.

China's fourth-largest airline HNA Group's takeover of the airport luggage handler Swissport International got the green light from the antitrust body of the European Union (EU).

Finance Minister Harris Georgiades said that Cyprus is not facing another real estatebubble, adding that the government is prepared to further help banks reduce their non-performing loan stock by improving the responsiveness of the judiciary.

President Nicos Anastasiades met the management of Cyprus’ largest credit institutions recently in an effort to persuade the banks to increase the pace of restructuring non-performing loans (NPLs).

Bank of Cyprus will make further progress in reducing the level of its non-performing loans before selling new debt, Chief Executive Officer John Hourican said recently.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development announced the launch of a Small Business Support (SBS) Programme in Cyprus, as part of its effort to support small businesses and help them improve their performance.