Hellenic Bank Makes Key Interest Rate Cut: What It Means For Borrowers

by News Editor

March 12, 2025

The Hellenic Bank has taken a significant step to ease the financial burden on borrowers by announcing a reduction in its reference interest rate. Effective from March 12, 2025, the rate sees a drop from 2.90% to 2.65%. This 0.25% cut aligns with fluctuations in the European Central Bank’s base rate.

Impact On Borrowers And Business

Interest Rate Adjustment: The treasury rate was reduced by 0.25%.
New Rate: Set at 2.65%.
Beneficiaries: Over 6,000 loan recipients are expected to benefit.

Coming on the heels of a recent 0.16% reduction, which affected the bank’s basic interest to reach 1.75%, this move aims to further relieve over 90,000 borrowers, spanning individuals to businesses, by reducing their borrowing costs.

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Steady Fixed Rates For Home Loans & My Home Rewards

Attractive Mortgage Rates: The Bank offers fixed mortgage rates of:

2.95% for the initial three years.
3.10% for the first five years.

My Home Rewards Program enriches these offers through:

Cashback Offers: Up to €2,000 for furnishing and home equipment from partner merchants.
Enhanced Buyer Opportunities: Enabling customers to own homes under more favorable conditions.

This strategic rate adjustment by Hellenic Bank not only makes loan facilities more accessible but also strengthens the real estate market dynamics in Cyprus, aligning with trends observed in the global real estate arena.

The Future Forbes Realty Global Properties

Zendesk Acquires Forethought To Strengthen AI Customer Support Tools

by THEFUTURE.TEAM

March 12, 2026

Zendesk, a company known for customer support software, has announced the acquisition of artificial intelligence startup Forethought. The deal is expected to close by the end of March and represents another step in the growing use of AI to automate customer service operations.

Strategic Innovation In Customer Service

Forethought has been developing AI tools for customer support automation for several years. The company first gained industry recognition after winning the TechCrunch Battlefield competition in 2018, well before the widespread adoption of generative AI tools.

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Since then, Forethought has expanded its customer base to include companies such as Grammarly, Airtable, Upwork and Datadog. By 2025, the platform was processing more than one billion customer interactions each month, highlighting the growing role of automation in support operations.

Pioneering Leadership And Industry Recognition

Deon Nicholas, Forethought’s co-founder and chairman, hailed the acquisition as a milestone in a recent LinkedIn post. According to Nicholas, advances in AI over the past several years have accelerated adoption across multiple industries, particularly in areas that rely heavily on customer communication and service management.

Enhancing Zendesk’s Product Portfolio

The integration of Forethought’s technology is expected to expand Zendesk’s AI capabilities across its product suite. Company executives said the acquisition could accelerate development of several planned features by more than a year. These capabilities include specialized AI agents, systems that improve automatically through usage data and more advanced voice-based customer support tools. Zendesk has previously expanded its platform through acquisitions, including companies such as Zopim and BIME Analytics, which added messaging and analytics functionality to its products.

Implications For The Future

The acquisition reflects a broader shift in the software industry toward AI-driven automation of customer service tasks. Companies are increasingly using AI systems to handle routine inquiries while human agents focus on more complex cases. Zendesk’s move highlights how enterprise software providers are investing in AI technologies to improve efficiency and scale customer support operations as demand for digital service channels continues to grow.

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