Paramount has completed its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, bringing together two of the most powerful names in media under a new combined company, Skydance. The deal, announced Tuesday, creates one of the largest entertainment mergers ever completed and reshapes the competitive landscape across streaming, film, television and cable.

A New Power Center In Global Entertainment

The combined company unites Paramount+ and HBO Max, alongside a broad portfolio of networks that includes CBS, CNN, MTV, TBS, Comedy Central and Food Network. It also gives Skydance control over some of the industry’s most valuable franchises, including The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, the DC Universe and Yellowstone.

Follow THE FUTURE on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X and Telegram

For the industry, the scale of the transaction is as significant as the assets themselves. In an era defined by streaming competition and rising content costs, ownership of established intellectual property has become a strategic advantage akin to controlling a premium distribution network in a previous media cycle.

Ellison Expands His Influence

The merger places one of the world’s largest entertainment studios under the control of David Ellison, who only last year completed the combination of Skydance Media and Paramount. With this latest transaction, Ellison is accelerating his rise as one of Hollywood’s most influential executives.

The Ellison family remains Skydance’s largest shareholder, backed by the financial power of Larry Ellison, the Oracle co-founder and David Ellison’s father. That support gives the company considerable flexibility as it integrates two sprawling media businesses and seeks to compete more aggressively across platforms.

Legal Hurdles Cleared Before Closing

The deal’s completion follows settlements with a coalition of U.S. states and a Hollywood writers’ union, removing the principal legal obstacles that had threatened to delay or derail the merger.

Paramount first announced in February that it would pursue Warner Bros. Discovery after a bidding contest with Netflix, which had earlier struck its own agreement to acquire Warner Bros.’ film and television studios and streaming operations, excluding the cable networks. Paramount strengthened its offer by promising shareholders additional cash if the deal failed to close by a set deadline and by agreeing to cover the breakup fee owed to Netflix.

What Skydance Says Comes Next

“Today is a historic day, not just for Skydance but for our entire industry,” Ellison said in a statement. “From the start, our ambition was to bring these two storied studios together and create a stronger competitor, with the talent, resources, and reach to tell great stories in every genre, on every platform, for audiences everywhere. Our focus now turns to the future: building a company that empowers creatives, entertains audiences and rewards shareholders. We couldn’t be more excited to get to work.”

Skydance said the combined company will generate nearly $70 billion in annual revenue. The company’s Class B shares are set to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange today under the ticker symbol SKYD.

Mistral has introduced a new flagship artificial intelligence model that the French startup says ranks among the most capable open systems in the world, underscoring how sharply the global AI race is now being defined by open-weight models.

A New Flagship For Europe’s Best-Known AI Startup

The company on Tuesday unveiled Mistral Large 4, also known internally as le Chonk, a 1-trillion-parameter model designed to excel in cyber, coding, manufacturing, finance and multimodal applications. The launch reinforces Mistral’s position as Europe’s most prominent challenger to U.S. leaders such as OpenAI and Anthropic.

Follow THE FUTURE on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X and Telegram

Mistral, which operates from France, raised 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion) in Series D funding in September at a 21 billion euro valuation. That deal cemented its standing as one of the continent’s most heavily financed and highly valued AI startups.

Open Models Move To The Center Of The AI Contest

Access to open AI models has become a major flashpoint in the broader contest for technological leadership between the U.S. and China. Unlike closed systems from companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic, open models can be modified and self-hosted, giving developers and enterprises greater flexibility and control.

Chinese open models have been gaining traction globally, intensifying pressure on Western companies to close the performance gap. In that context, Mistral is pitching Large 4 as a competitive alternative built outside China and aimed at customers who want strong capability without depending entirely on closed platforms.

Built On Nvidia Hardware In Europe

Mistral said ML4 was trained on 4,000 Nvidia Grace Blackwell GPUs over two months, using the company’s own data centers in Europe. Nvidia’s hardware remains foundational to the most ambitious AI training runs, and Mistral’s infrastructure strategy highlights the scale now required to compete at the frontier.

The company said that when the model’s core parameters are released, ML4 will rank among the top open-weight models globally on aggregate benchmark performance. Mistral also said it is the strongest open-weight model developed outside China by a substantial margin.

Still Behind The Frontier In Some Areas

Even so, Mistral acknowledged that the model still trails the frontier in some disciplines, including coding. Co-founder and chief scientist Guillaume Lample said the company expects further gains as it expands training capacity after its latest fundraise.

“The model capabilities will further improve as we scale up our training capacity, following our Series D fundraise,” Lample said. He added that the model’s cyber defense capabilities are designed to help enterprises and governments defend against threat actors that attempt to jailbreak closed models for cyberattacks.

Why Cybersecurity Leaders Are Paying Attention

That emphasis on cyber matters because open models are increasingly being tested not just as productivity tools, but as defensive infrastructure. Earlier this year, Hugging Face disclosed that it had relied on Chinese-based Z.ai’s GLM 5.2 to defend against a breach involving rogue OpenAI agents after leading U.S. closed systems proved too restrictive under their guardrails.

The episode illustrated a broader market shift: organizations are increasingly willing to use whichever model performs best, regardless of geography, if it can solve a high-stakes operational problem.

Rivalry Among Open Model Developers Is Heating Up

The competitive landscape is also moving quickly. On Monday, Nvidia-backed U.S. startup Reflection AI unveiled its first open model, claiming performance comparable to GLM 5.2, which was later surpassed by GLM 5.3 in August. The pace of release shows how quickly the open-model market is evolving as startups and major AI players race to establish leadership.

For Mistral, the debut of Large 4 is more than a product launch. It is a strategic bid to remain relevant in a market increasingly shaped by scale, infrastructure access and the global competition for AI supremacy.

Cyprus recorded a 9.7% year-on-year increase in registered unemployment in September, with the largest pressures coming from public administration and defence, information and communication, and administrative and support services, according to figures released Tuesday by the Statistical Service of Cyprus (Cystat).

Registered Unemployment Climbs Year On Year

The number of unemployed persons registered at district labour offices reached 8,366 at the end of September, up from 7,624 a year earlier, an increase of 742 people.

Follow THE FUTURE on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X and Telegram

Month on month, however, the figure declined sharply from 12,385 in August, indicating a more mixed short-term picture.

The seasonally adjusted measure moved in the opposite direction, rising to 10,809 in September from 10,715 in August. That was also above the 9,895 recorded in September 2025.

Seasonally adjusted unemployment had stood at 10,082 in January, 10,095 in February and 10,292 in March before increasing to 10,565 in April. It then eased to 10,518 in May, edged up to 10,663 in June, slipped to 10,601 in July and reached 10,715 in August before climbing again in September.

Trade, Public Administration And Services Lead The Increase

By economic activity, wholesale and retail trade accounted for the largest number of registered unemployed in September, at 1,402, compared with 1,364 a year earlier.

Public administration and defence followed at 1,050, up from 866 in September 2025, while professional, scientific and technical activities rose to 855 from 780. Accommodation and food service activities also increased, reaching 815 from 768.

Information and communication saw one of the sharper gains, rising to 549 from 432, while manufacturing increased to 506 from 453. Education accounted for 491 registered unemployed, compared with 422 a year earlier, and administrative and support service activities rose to 436 from 355. Financial and insurance activities also moved higher, to 407 from 375.

Construction was one of the few sectors to post a decline, falling to 394 from 419. Human health and social work activities increased to 299 from 285, while transportation and storage rose to 293 from 266 in September 2025.

New Entrants And Smaller Sectors Show Mixed Trends

The number of newcomers registered as unemployed fell to 268 from 280 a year earlier.

Elsewhere, other service activities rose to 215 from 188, while arts, entertainment and recreation stood at 170, almost unchanged from 169 a year earlier. Real estate activities increased to 128 from 92.

At the lower end of the scale, agriculture, forestry and fishing fell to 46 from 53. Water supply, sewerage and waste management declined to 16 from 21. Activities of extra-territorial organisations and bodies remained steady at 10, while activities of households slipped to nine from 10.

Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply fell to four from nine, and mining and quarrying declined to three from seven.

Berlin-based embedded lending infrastructure company Finmid has raised €17 million in new funding as it broadens its business beyond working capital finance and pushes into vehicle loans and marketplace lending.

Follow THE FUTURE on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X and Telegram

The Series A extension lifts the company’s total funding to €52 million and signals a clear strategic shift: from serving as a financing layer for short-term business credit to supporting more complex, longer-duration asset finance products across mobility and e-commerce.

From Working Capital To Larger Business Assets

Finmid enables digital platforms to offer financing to business customers without building their own lending stack. Its infrastructure covers underwriting, regulated lending and servicing, while financing capital can come from the platform itself, a banking partner or finmid’s refinancing partners.

That model has already been deployed across working capital use cases. Now, the company is extending it into categories where the stakes, ticket sizes and underwriting requirements are materially higher.

The latest capital will support expansion of finmid’s asset finance products, multi-source funding infrastructure and underwriting capabilities, with particular focus on mobility and e-commerce.

Bolt And Skroutz Become Strategic Launch Partners

The first new product is Bolt Vehicle Solutions, a financing programme developed with ride-hailing company Bolt to help fleet operators access tailored vehicle finance. The product is designed for operators who need commercial vehicles but often struggle to secure lending suited to intensive business use.

Finmid said traditional lenders can struggle to assess fleet businesses because they lack a full view of commercial performance, while standard manufacturer financing is often not built for high-utilization vehicles. The new offering is intended to close that gap by combining vehicle selection on the platform with a financing application routed through finmid.

The structure is straightforward: operators can browse vehicles available through Bolt, connect with finmid to review financing options and complete an application. The financing includes fixed monthly repayments, and ownership transfers to the operator after the final payment. In effect, a recurring operating expense becomes a path to a long-term business asset.

Finmid’s second new product is Skroutz Funding, created with Greece’s largest online marketplace to provide financing to about 9,000 merchants on the platform. Unlike previous implementations, Skroutz Group itself is supplying the capital, while finmid provides the lending infrastructure, including underwriting, regulated lending, servicing and refinancing.

Finmid described the arrangement as its first partnership in which the platform’s own balance sheet sits at the center of the financing model.

A Bet On Embedded Lending Becoming Infrastructure

For finmid, the expansion reflects a broader view of embedded lending: not as a narrow product category, but as the financial infrastructure behind the digital platforms where businesses already operate.

Alexander Talkanitsa, co-founder of finmid, said the market has evolved rapidly. “Two years ago, embedded lending meant a cash advance for a restaurant,” he said. “Today the same rails carry a multi-year vehicle loan, a marketplace’s own balance sheet, and the potential for more.”

“Every platform with business customers now has a way to become their financing partner without becoming a bank,” Talkanitsa added.

Max Schertel, co-founder of finmid, said platforms are increasingly well positioned to extend credit because they have direct visibility into business activity. “Small businesses have never lacked ambition, they’ve lacked a lender who could see them,” he said. “Platforms, with their live and embedded view of the businesses they power, are uniquely placed to fill that gap, and finmid exists to make it happen.”

“With Bolt we’re financing the cars that fleets run on; with Skroutz the marketplace itself is putting its capital behind its merchants,” Schertel added. “Our job is to make that credit safe, fast and regulated, whoever provides the money and whatever businesses need it for.”

Investor Confidence In A Capital-Light Model

The round was led by Big Pi Ventures, with Mainset also participating and existing backer Earlybird following on.

Big Pi partner Nick Kalliagkopoulos said embedded lending has become core infrastructure for digital marketplaces. “Embedded lending is now essential infrastructure for marketplaces, and finmid is built to deliver it,” he said.

He pointed to finmid’s capital-light structure and regional footprint as key advantages. “Their capital light structure lets them grow quickly, and their licensing and geographic foothold make them a partner marketplaces can plug in once and scale everywhere,” he said. “Their traction in southeast Europe, a region many overlook despite its size, is proof of how much whitespace is still out there.”

Momentum Across Europe

Since launching, finmid says it has extended more than €4 billion in financing offers to businesses across 30 European markets. Its partner list includes Wolt, Delivery Hero, myPOS and efood.

The company says around 85% of borrowers return for additional financing, while businesses using its financing products have increased revenue on partner platforms by as much as 45%.

The new funding follows finmid’s €23 million Series A in April 2024 and comes as the company seeks to deepen its presence across Europe. Its next phase of growth will focus on new asset classes and additional platform categories, especially in mobility and e-commerce.

For finmid, the message is clear: embedded lending is moving beyond short-term cash flow support and into the financing of assets, fleets and marketplace ecosystems. The opportunity now is not just to lend more, but to become the operating layer through which platforms finance the businesses they power.

Cyprus had a working-age population share of 61.6 per cent on January 1, 2025, placing the country above the European Union average of 58.3 per cent, according to Eurostat.

Cyprus Stands Above The EU Benchmark

The figures show that people aged 20 to 64 made up more than three-fifths of Cyprus’ population at the start of last year. In Eurostat’s regional demographic breakdown, Cyprus is treated as a single region because of its size, rather than being divided into multiple NUTS level 3 areas.

Follow THE FUTURE on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X and Telegram

Wide Gaps Across The Bloc

Across the EU, 58.3 per cent of the population was of working age on January 1, 2025. The share reached at least 63.0 per cent in 39 NUTS level 3 regions, most of them in Germany. The group also included island regions in Spain, alongside several capital regions and their surrounding areas.

Capital And Island Regions Lead

At the top of the range was the Danish capital region of Byen København, where 68.9 per cent of residents were of working age. The same proportion was recorded in Spain’s island region of Eivissa y Formentera, while Fuerteventura stood at 68.3 per cent and Lanzarote at 67.3 per cent.

Rural Europe Skews Older

At the other end of the spectrum, working-age residents accounted for less than 55.0 per cent of the population in 189 EU regions. These areas were largely rural, including inland Portugal, much of rural France, most of eastern Germany, and rural areas in Bulgaria, Greece and the Nordic EU countries.

In six regions, fewer than half of the population was of working age. Those regions were Bornholm in Denmark, Creuse and Lot in south-west France, Etelä-Savo in south-east Finland, the Arrondissement of Veurne in Belgium and the French outermost region of Mayotte.

What The Data Measures

Eurostat’s regional demographic data measure the share of people aged 20 to 64, not the share of people who are actually employed. Cyprus’ 61.6 per cent figure was 3.3 percentage points above the EU average, though still below the highest regional levels recorded across the bloc.

The data underline how sharply Europe’s age structure varies from one region to another, with working-age shares differing significantly between urban centres, capital regions, islands and predominantly rural areas.

A Detector Built For The Rare And The Distant

A detector buried deep beneath the Antarctic ice has delivered one of physics’ most consequential breakthroughs — and earned its creator the field’s highest honor. Belgian physicist Francis Halzen has won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics for pioneering work behind IceCube, the cubic-kilometre observatory designed to capture neutrinos from the farthest reaches of the cosmos.

“This year’s prize is about ghostly messengers from space,” said Ellen Moons, secretary general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, announcing the award in Stockholm.

Follow THE FUTURE on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X and Telegram

The academy praised Halzen for “decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin,” calling the project a breakthrough that has “paved the way for a new kind of astronomy.”

Why Neutrinos Matter

Neutrinos are among the most elusive particles known to science. They are produced in some of the universe’s most violent environments, yet they pass through matter almost unhindered, making them extraordinarily difficult to detect. That same quality is precisely what makes them so valuable to researchers: because neutrinos travel in a straight line and emerge intact, they can carry information from deep space that light and other particles cannot.

As the academy explained, “Neutrinos reach us without changing direction or losing energy. This means they can provide information that is not available in any other way.”

The challenge is scale. High-energy cosmic neutrinos are extremely rare, which means scientists need an enormous detection volume to catch enough collisions to study them. IceCube meets that challenge by using a vast block of Antarctic ice instrumented with light sensors.

From A 1988 Idea To A Global Research Landmark

Halzen first proposed the observatory in 1988, and the concept quickly gained support among other researchers. Early tests followed in the years after, but the full detector was not completed until 2011. Today, the IceCube Observatory at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station is the world’s largest neutrino detector.

Halzen, who serves as principal investigator of the project, said the prize was especially meaningful because of the team behind it. “For me, the main pleasure of it, besides winning the Nobel Prize, is that I hope this reflects on the really courageous people who joined me in the beginning of this project,” he said.

From Leuven To The South Pole

Born in Tienen, Belgium, Halzen earned a master’s degree in physics from KU Leuven in 1966 and a doctorate in 1969. He later became a US citizen and is now a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he directs the Institute for Elementary Particle Physics. More about the university can be found at https://www.wisc.edu/.

Since the 1970s, Halzen has been a leading figure in cosmic ray and astroparticle physics, with research spanning cosmic ray anomalies and quark matter. He has also served on advisory committees for major scientific institutions, including the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory in Canada and Germany’s Max Planck Institutes.

Speaking by phone from Italy shortly after the announcement, Halzen called the prize “a great surprise” and said he had not expected it. “But it’s a great pleasure to hear about this prize,” he added.

The Second Nobel Of The Season

Halzen’s award is the second Nobel announced this year. On Monday, the medicine prize went to US psychiatrist and neurologist Karl Deisseroth, along with German scientists Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel, for their pioneering work in optogenetics, a method that uses light to control nerve signals.

The chemistry prize will follow on Wednesday, the literature prize on Thursday and the peace prize on Friday. The economics prize closes the Nobel season on Monday, October 12.

Each Nobel Prize includes a diploma, a gold medal and 12 million Swedish kronor, or about €1.1 million, with the award shared if there is more than one laureate. The ceremony will be held on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896.

Invest Cyprus has called for deeper investment and innovation ties between Cyprus and Greece, arguing that closer cooperation could give smaller ecosystems a better chance of attracting international capital and expanding their global reach.

Partnership As A Growth Multiplier

Speaking at the BiG Innovation Forum, Invest Cyprus chief executive Marios Tannousis outlined Cyprus’ approach to attracting innovative companies and investment, with a particular focus on the pharmaceutical and medtech sectors.

Follow THE FUTURE on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X and Telegram

He said stronger synergies between Cyprus and Greece could help both countries build scale, improve international visibility and strengthen access to global investors. In markets of limited size, cooperation can often function as a force multiplier, combining complementary strengths and creating a more compelling proposition for capital.

Focus On Innovation And Institutional Capital

The broader discussion examined innovation, investment and the opportunities available to smaller, agile ecosystems. It also addressed how institutional capital can be mobilised more effectively and how investment frameworks can be strengthened to support long-term growth.

Invest Cyprus said cooperation can act as a multiplier for smaller markets by bringing together complementary capabilities and opening new opportunities for investment and innovation.

Industry Leaders Gather In Athens

The panel featured Marianna Nathanail, Haris Lambropoulos and George Zavvos, alongside Tannousis. The discussion was moderated by Lina Nikolopoulou. Invest Cyprus also thanked Nikos Kyrpides for the invitation to participate in the forum.

The event offered a platform for exchange on how institutional capital can be deployed more effectively and how tighter market links can help build more competitive investment ecosystems across the region.

Dialogue On The Region’s Investment Outlook

During the forum, Tannousis also met Christos Staikouras, governor of the Bank of Greece, and joined a discussion with him on the evolving investment and economic landscape in the region.

The forum brought together investors, policymakers and business leaders, with conversations centred on the role of capital, confidence and connectivity in supporting the next phase of investment and innovation.

Bank of Cyprus (BoC) has secured 14 distinctions at the 2026 World’s Best Digital Bank Awards, organised by Global Finance, significantly increasing its tally from the previous year and reinforcing its position as one of Europe’s most accomplished digital banking players.

The bank retained its strong regional standing in Western Europe, winning two awards at regional level, while also adding three more distinctions across local categories in Cyprus. The result reflects not only breadth of performance, but also a sustained ability to deliver digital services that compete across consumer, corporate and SME banking.

Follow THE FUTURE on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X and Telegram

Western Europe Awards Reinforce Regional Leadership

At Western European level, BoC once again won Best in Social Media Marketing & Services in the Consumer category and Best in Transformation in the Corporate category. These wins underscore the bank’s ability to combine digital engagement with operational change, a combination that has become essential in a banking market increasingly defined by user experience and platform-led service delivery.

BoC said its continued strength in SME banking and digital transformation is closely tied to the capabilities of Jinius, its digital platform designed to support a more integrated customer experience across services.

Cyprus Consumer Banking Gains Momentum

In Cyprus, the bank won the main Best Consumer Digital Bank award, along with seven additional subcategory awards. That is three more distinctions than last year, a notable increase that signals momentum rather than maintenance.

The new awards included Best Personal Finance Management (PFM) Solution, The Social & Community Banking Award and Best User Experience (UX) Design. Together, these wins point to a broader digital proposition: not just faster banking, but more intuitive, personalised and socially connected banking.

The Consumer category awards in Cyprus also included Best Online Product Offerings, Best in Transformation, Best in Precision Credit & Lending Award and Best in Social Media Marketing & Services.

A Clean Sweep In Corporate And Institutional Banking

BoC also delivered a full sweep in the Corporate and Institutional category in Cyprus, winning the main Best Corporate Digital Bank award as well as every subcategory available. Among the additional distinctions were Best Mobile Banking App, Best SME Banking/SME Platform and Best in Transformation.

For a bank competing in an environment where corporate clients expect seamless digital infrastructure, that level of recognition suggests more than incremental progress. It indicates a digital operating model that is increasingly aligned with the needs of businesses seeking speed, clarity and control.

Digital Transformation As A Competitive Edge

Commenting on the results, Dimitris Nikolaou, Chief Digital Officer of BoC, said the increase in awards from Global Finance, including five new distinctions in Cyprus, reflects the bank’s commitment to continuously improving the customer digital experience.

He added that retaining the regional awards in Western Europe, alongside new first-place finishes, particularly for the Jinius platform and Personal Finance Management solutions, demonstrates that BoC’s digital transformation strategy is shaping developments in Cyprus while also positioning the bank as a benchmark internationally.

The 2026 “Best Digital Banks and AI” awards ceremony will take place at Raffles Hotel Singapore on October 13, 2026.

What The Awards Signal

BoC’s latest performance highlights a broader lesson for the banking sector: digital leadership is no longer measured by one strong app or one successful campaign. It is built through a coordinated strategy that spans customer engagement, platform capabilities, user experience and transformation at scale.

By winning across consumer, corporate and SME categories, Bank of Cyprus has shown that its digital agenda is not limited to one segment. It is becoming a core competitive advantage.

Cyprus households are earning relatively modest returns on their savings even as mortgage borrowing costs climb again, according to new Central Bank of Cyprus data that places the country among the euro area’s weakest performers on deposit rates.

Deposits Rise, But Remain Near The Bottom Of The Euro Area

The central bank’s latest analysis, covering August 2026, found that the interest rate on new household deposits with agreed maturities of up to one year increased to 1.35 per cent from 1.27 per cent in July. Over the same period, the average rate on new house purchase loans rose sharply to 4.16 per cent from 3.78 per cent.

Follow THE FUTURE on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X and Telegram

The contrast underscores a persistent imbalance in how interest rate changes are being transmitted across Cyprus’s banking system. While borrowers have felt the impact of higher rates more directly, savers continue to receive returns that remain unusually low by euro area standards.

The CBC said deposit rates in Cyprus sit at the lower end of the euro area and remain an outlier. The transmission of market interest rate changes to deposits has also been weaker in Cyprus than in almost every other euro area country, affecting both households and businesses.

Borrowing Costs Are Closer To The Euro Area Median

The picture on the lending side is more mixed. Interest rates on outstanding loans and on new lending are broadly aligned with the euro area median.

According to the CBC, the interest rate on outstanding loans to households in Cyprus was only 0.1 percentage points below the euro area median, while the corresponding rate for non-financial corporations was 0.3 percentage points above it. For new lending, the weighted average rate on loans to households for house purchase was 0.2 percentage points below the euro area median, while the rate for non-financial corporations was 0.1 percentage points lower.

Still, the latest monthly data show a notable increase in mortgage pricing in August. The average rate on house purchase loans rose to 4.16 per cent, from 3.78 per cent in July. The CBC noted that this is a weighted average across different types of housing loans, including mortgages for primary residences and holiday homes.

Because the composition of banks’ housing loan portfolios changes from month to month, weighted averages can move even when the underlying rates offered by banks have not shifted by the same amount.

Consumer Credit Rises, Business Lending Eases

Consumer borrowing also became more expensive, with the average interest rate rising to 7.12 per cent in August from 6.94 per cent in July.

For businesses, the trend was more favourable. The rate on loans of up to €1 million edged down to 4.45 per cent from 4.47 per cent, while the rate on loans above €1 million fell more sharply to 3.67 per cent from 4.29 per cent.

Even so, new lending volumes fell significantly across the board in August. Pure new lending dropped to €251.40m from €415.00m in July, while total new lending, which includes refinancing and other operations, declined to €390.10m from €686.10m.

Pure new consumer loans fell to €19.30m from €23.90m, and total lending in that category slipped to €20.70m from €26.50m. Pure new house purchase loans fell to €114.40m from €149.50m, while total lending for house purchases declined to €141.90m from €205.80m.

Business lending also slowed. Pure new loans of up to €1 million declined to €35.50m from €52.30m, while pure new lending above €1 million fell to €77.00m from €162.30m.

Why Cyprus Deposits Stay Low

The CBC’s euro area comparison is especially telling for savers. Unlike lending rates, the interest rates on existing deposits in Cyprus remain near the bottom of the euro area, which the central bank described as an outlier.

The CBC attributed this in part to the high level of excess liquidity held by Cypriot credit institutions. Cyprus’ Liquidity Coverage Ratio stood at 313 per cent in August 2026, compared with a median of 182 per cent and an EU average of 158 per cent in June 2026, the latest available figures cited by the central bank.

The relatively short maturity structure of Cyprus’s banking sector was also identified as a factor weighing on deposit rates. Rates offered on new deposits are similarly subdued and remain close to those paid on existing balances, reflecting the same underlying market conditions.

In practical terms, this means the European Central Bank’s monetary policy cycle has affected borrowing costs in Cyprus more visibly than it has improved returns for depositors. Savers have received only a limited pass-through of higher interest rates, even as borrowers have faced higher costs.

Mortgage Preferences Are Changing

The CBC also highlighted a marked shift in the type of mortgage borrowing being taken out by Cypriot households.

The share of new house purchase loans carrying a variable interest rate has fallen dramatically, from almost 100 per cent at the beginning of 2022 to just 12.0 per cent in August 2026. That is now below the euro area median.

The central bank said this may partly reflect borrowers opting for fixed-rate loans for an initial period, typically three to five years, before switching to floating rates. The shift suggests households are becoming more conscious of interest rate risk, a development banks will need to reflect in their risk management frameworks.

A similar trend is visible when household and business loans are viewed together. The share of new loans to households and non-financial corporations carrying floating rates has dropped from almost 100 per cent at the beginning of 2022 to 55.9 per cent in August 2026, below the euro area median. The CBC said this could again partly be explained by fixed-rate periods early in the life of a loan, before conversion to floating rates later on.

The Bottom Line For Savers And Borrowers

For households, the latest data point to a mixed picture. Mortgage rates remain broadly comparable with the euro area, but deposit returns remain unusually low, while the cost of new house purchase loans rose significantly in August.

The central bank’s analysis suggests that the core issue for Cypriot savers is not that lending rates are especially high by euro area standards. Rather, it is that interest rate changes have been passed through to deposits far less fully than elsewhere in the currency union.

For decades, the Free Famagusta district has pursued one strategic objective: to extend its tourism season beyond the summer months. The stakes are high. As the region with the largest share of Cyprus’ tourist beds — accounting for 42% nationwide — any progress in lengthening the season would deliver meaningful gains for the local economy and the island’s broader tourism model.

Ayia Napa and Protaras operate at full capacity for roughly six months during a strong season, with hotels, restaurants and leisure businesses running at peak intensity. Yet the challenge remains clear. In October 2025, a record year for Cypriot tourism, only 20% of total arrivals were directed to the Free Famagusta district. That gap underscores the scale of the opportunity.

Follow THE FUTURE on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X and Telegram

A Unified Regional Strategy

Local stakeholders have spent years trying to attract more visitors during the colder months, but results have been uneven. One factor was the long-standing rivalry between Ayia Napa and Protaras, which until recently competed more than they cooperated. Since the summer of 2024, however, the two municipalities have chosen a different path. They have put aside differences and begun coordinating their efforts, creating new momentum for the region’s tourism sector.

Today, the focus is on strengthening the area’s offering in a more integrated way, with the long-term aim of gradually extending the tourism season and attracting both Cypriot and international visitors.

Why Year-Round Tourism Takes Time

Officials involved in the strategy say there is no quick fix. George Tofinis, chairman of the Famagusta Regional Tourism Board, said the push for year-round tourism requires time, planning, incentives and close cooperation between the public and private sectors.

“It is a strategy that needs time, proper planning, incentives and collaboration between the public and private sectors, and it certainly cannot be achieved overnight,” he said.

The approach centers on a broader mix of activities designed to diversify demand. These include international sporting events, cultural productions, festivals, concerts, Christmas programming and outdoor experiences tied to the region’s nature and inland communities. According to Mr. Tofinis, the initiatives launched in recent years show that the destination is gradually being upgraded with new experiences and events.

Air Connectivity And Regional Cooperation

A key part of the plan for 2027 is deeper cooperation between the tourism authorities and hotel operators of Famagusta and Larnaca. The two sides are in discussions with Hermes Airports and major travel organizers to secure more flights in March and November. If successful, the move could extend the tourism season by around two months.

At the same time, a coordinated digital campaign promoting the Famagusta district in foreign markets is being implemented for a third consecutive year. For 2026, it will continue through the autumn and part of the winter, reflecting a calculated effort to capture both last-minute bookings for the shoulder season and early demand for summer 2027.

The campaign is led by the Famagusta hotel association, in close cooperation with the regional tourism board and with financial support from the municipalities of Ayia Napa and Paralimni-Deryneia, Bank of Cyprus, and local hoteliers.

According to Panagiotis Constantinou, chairman of the Famagusta hotel association, dozens of accommodations in Protaras and Ayia Napa will remain open until the end of November this year, while only a limited number of hotels are expected to operate during winter. He added that as efforts intensify and visitor numbers improve, more properties will stay open for longer periods.

“What is needed,” he said, “is support from the state as well, because appropriate incentives and mechanisms are essential to sustain these initiatives.”

Sport As A Tourism Product

One of the strongest pillars in the effort to extend the season is sport. Regional leaders see sporting events — as well as team training camps during the winter — as a significant source of visitor traffic. Mr. Tofinis said sport is now being treated not merely as a parallel activity, but as a tourism product in its own right.

This year’s calendar features several prominent events. The first Cablenet Famagusta Run will take place in Protaras on October 11, while the SwimRun is scheduled for October 17-18, 2026. The 4th International Dragon Boat Regatta will be held at Ayia Napa Marina on October 10-11, and OceanMan will return to Ayia Napa from November 6-8, 2026.

Winter programming continues with the 4th International Winter Swimmers Festival, set for January 16-19, 2027, in Ayia Napa.

Football remains another reliable winter draw, particularly in Ayia Napa, where tournaments and team preparations from January through April continue to bring in visitors. In March, the 3rd Elite Neon Cup, scheduled for March 13-15, 2027, will add another international event to the calendar. Combined with the long-running academy tournament hosted annually in Ayia Napa, it is expected to attract hundreds of guests during a period when tourism activity is typically subdued.

Also on the schedule is the 6th Run4Autism, to be held in Ayia Napa on March 28, 2027.

Culture, Heritage And Nature As Growth Drivers

Beyond sport, the region’s leaders point to culture, history and nature as critical tools for attracting visitors during slower periods. The Medieval Festival of Ayia Napa remains one of the district’s signature events and will take place from October 14 to 18, 2026, drawing visitors from multiple countries.

Another major event, Cyprus Rocks, is currently being held in the Pernera area of Paralimni and runs until October 6.

From November 7 to January 7, 2027, Ayia Napa Biennale will also take place. Meanwhile, the Thalassa Municipal Museum is planning a series of family-focused activities throughout November and December.

From November, the Endless Sun program will resume and run through March. Delivered by the Famagusta Regional Tourism Board, the initiative aims to deepen the visitor experience by connecting guests with the roots, culture and traditions of the inland areas.

The direction is clear: Famagusta is no longer relying solely on summer sun and beach tourism. By combining events, air connectivity, digital marketing and destination cooperation, the district is building a more resilient tourism model — one that could eventually keep visitors arriving well beyond the traditional high season.