Hellenic Bank will proceed with increasing its share capital by approximately €220m to cover a shortfall derived from the EU-wide ‘stress test’ of about 130 banks recently.

Central Bank Governor Chrystalla Georghadji said she did not intend to resign her post, a day after President Nicos Anastasiades launched a scathing attack against her for the alleged removal of wording in her contract pertaining to conflict of interest arising from blood relatives, and accusing her of lying about encounters she claimed to have had with him.

Bank of Cyprus (BoC) has completed the sale of a UK loan portfolio largely composed of residential and commercial real estate-backed facilities to Mars Capital Finance Limited, a mortgage lender and administrator regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority of the UK, and to Camael Mortgages Ltd.

Hermes Airports has welcomed the launch of Germanwings routes to Cyprus, which will connect Larnaca with Cologne.

A team of technocrats from the troika will be arriving on the island in November, to assess the insolvency framework prepared by the government to complement the law on foreclosures.

Minister of Energy Giorgos Lakkotrypis said that a tripartite ministerial meeting between Cyprus, Greece and Egypt on energy issues will take place at a later stage, in the framework of the cooperation which has begun between the three countries.

The government will exhaust all efforts to attract investors' interest in Cyprus Airways, in accordance with international practices and the recommendations of the European Commission, Minister of Finance Harris Georgiades said recently.

The economic sentiment in Cyprus deteriorated for the second consecutive month in October 2014, according to the monthly report of the Directorate General for Economic Affairs of the European Commission.

The House plenum recently unanimously passed a law extending the deadline for payment of immovable property tax (IPT) by a month, as well as extending by one month the 15% discount.

In the fight against tax evasion, member banks of the Association of Cyprus Banks (ACB) are currently in the process of implementing the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), in anticipation of the upcoming intergovernmental agreement between the United States of America and Cyprus, ACB Director General Michael Kammas said.