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Bank Of Cyprus Successfully Launches Oversubscribed €300 Million Tier 2 Capital Notes Issue

Transaction Overview

The Bank of Cyprus (BoC) announced on Thursday the successful launch and pricing of a €300 million unsecured, subordinated Tier 2 Capital Notes issue under its €4 billion Euro Medium Term Note Programme, scheduled for September 10, 2025. The transaction garnered strong investor interest, reflecting deep market confidence in the bank’s financial prospects.

Investor Demand And Market Reception

Demand surpassed expectations with over 100 institutional investors participating, driving the final order book to exceed €3 billion—more than ten times the issued amount. This overwhelming response underscores robust investor confidence from both local and international markets.

Pricing And Yield Improvements

The strong demand allowed BoC to secure a final pricing spread of 195 basis points, notably tighter by 35 basis points than the initial indication. The effective yield of 4.321 percent compares favorably against the initial rate of 4.67 percent, outperforming the bond currently being refinanced and even recent Senior Preferred bond issuances. Analysts note that these improvements position the bank’s offering competitively against Greek bonds.

Bond Specifications And Redemption Terms

The new notes, priced at 99.632 percent with a fixed annual coupon of 4.25 percent, will reset on September 18, 2031, and mature on September 18, 2036. BoC has retained the option to early redeem the notes anytime within a six-month period commencing March 18, 2031, subject to regulatory consents. Settlement is slated for September 18, 2025.

Market Ratings And Capital Impact

Moody’s Investors Service Cyprus Limited rated the new notes Ba1, further solidifying market confidence. These notes will be listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange’s Euro MTF market. Proceeds are set to be on-lent to BoC Public Company Limited for general funding purposes, qualifying as Tier 2 capital. The issuance is expected to bolster the group’s Total Capital Ratio by approximately 300 basis points while maintaining an optimised capital structure.

Additional Strategic Moves

In related developments, BoC has invited holders of its outstanding €300 million Fixed Rate Reset Tier 2 Capital Notes—callable between April 23, 2026, and October 23, 2026—to tender their notes at a purchase price of 102.3 percent of the principal amount. Additionally, the bank intends to repurchase its existing subordinated bond maturing in 2031 at the same pricing, further streamlining its debt profile. The transaction was coordinated by stalwarts such as BofA Securities Europe SA and Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE, with additional participation by Barclays Bank Ireland PLC, Citigroup Global Markets Limited, Morgan Stanley Europe SE, and Cisco acting as Co-Manager.

Copyright Law Struggles To Keep Up With AI Training

Courts Are Still Applying Old Copyright Rules To AI

AI companies train models on enormous amounts of published material, including books, articles and academic research. Whether using that content without authors’ permission violates copyright law remains unresolved.

Much of the debate centres on fair use, which allows copyrighted material to be used without permission in certain circumstances. Courts consider factors such as the purpose of the use, how much material was involved and its impact on the original market.

Anthropic Case Sets An Important Precedent

A major case involving Anthropic and a group of authors provided one of the clearest rulings so far. Judge William Alsup found that using copyrighted books to train AI models was lawful, comparing the process to people reading and studying literature before creating something new.

Anthropic was nevertheless ordered to pay $1.5 billion in a settlement. The penalty concerned books the company had obtained from illegal online libraries rather than the AI training itself.

For AI companies, that distinction could prove significant because it separates studying copyrighted material from directly copying it.

Competition Could Be The Key Issue

A case involving Thomson Reuters and Ross Intelligence offers a different perspective. A court ruled that Ross could not claim fair use after using Reuters’ copyrighted material to develop a competing AI-powered legal research platform.

The decision suggests courts may be less willing to consider AI training fair use when copyrighted content is used to build a product that directly competes with the original.

For authors, an unresolved question is whether AI-generated content should be considered competition for the works used to train these models.

The Law Has Yet To Catch Up

US copyright law predates generative AI by decades, leaving courts to apply old principles to new technology. Questions also remain over copyright protection for AI-generated works. In Thaler v. Perlmutter, a court ruled that material created entirely by AI cannot receive copyright protection.

Major AI companies remain involved in copyright litigation, and different courts could reach different conclusions. For now, there is no universal rule: the legality of AI training will depend on the circumstances of each case and how courts ultimately interpret copyright and fair use.

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