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Bank Of Cyprus Posts Record Lending Growth And Declares €305M Dividend Payout

by THEFUTURE.TEAM

February 18, 2026

Strong Financial Results And Surging Lending Activity

Bank of Cyprus announced its 2025 financial results on Wednesday, reporting a robust profit after tax of €481 million. This strong performance was buoyed by record new lending activity that reached €3 billion, reflecting an impressive 23% increase year-on-year.

Robust Operational Performance And Shareholder Returns

CEO Panicos Nicolaou highlighted that “2025 was another strong year for Bank of Cyprus, demonstrated by our financial and operational performance.” Emphasizing the firm’s cost efficiency, robust liquidity, and sound asset quality, he noted significant growth in gross performing loans, which climbed 8% year-on-year to €10.9 billion, while the retail deposit base also rose 8% to €22.2 billion.

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Enhanced Lending And International Expansion

Nicolaou underlined that the bank exceeded its target of circa 4% loan growth, driven primarily by healthy domestic credit activity combined with accelerating growth in its international loan portfolio. With strong corporate and international demand underpinning this growth, the operational metrics reaffirm BoC’s resilience and focus on sustainable expansion.

Efficiency And Capital Strength

The financial year was marked by a low cost to income ratio of 37%, reflecting strict cost discipline. Key performance indicators also included a return on tangible equity of 18.6% and basic earnings per share of €1.10. Additional highlights were a CET1 ratio of 21.0%, a total capital ratio of 25.9%, and surplus liquidity of €9.2 billion, further solidifying the bank’s resilient balance sheet.

Investor Confidence And Future Outlook

The bank’s commitment to maximizing shareholder value was evident in its total dividend distribution of €305 million, corresponding to a 70% payout ratio. Nicolaou reiterated, “We are delivering sustainable shareholder returns, as evidenced by almost €550 million of cumulative distributions over the last two financial years.”

Looking Ahead

With Cyprus’ economy projected to grow by 3.1% in real terms in 2026, well above the Eurozone average, Bank of Cyprus is well-positioned to continue supporting its customers and fueling national economic growth. The bank will provide further strategic insights and financial targets during an investor update scheduled for March 3, 2026.

Bank of Cyprus demonstrated strong financial performance in 2025 and reaffirmed its focus on sustainable growth and shareholder value, reinforcing its position as Cyprus’ leading financial services group.

The Future Forbes Realty Global Properties

by News Editor

August 24, 2026

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.

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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.