This article aims to provide some general information on recent developments within
the Cypriot banking industry and highlights steps that bank account holders can take to
maximise their financial security and reduce banking charges.
Banking Sector Activity
In June 2025, Eurobank finalised the acquisition of Hellenic Bank with the aim of
strengthening its market position and expanding operations in Cyprus. Whilst Hellenic
bank account holders may not have noticed much change over recent months,
Eurobank branding will soon replace previous Hellenic Bank marketing across all
branches in Cyprus, and Eurobank’s logo is already visible on all bank statements.
In further activity in the Cyprus banking sector, Alpha Bank has agreed to purchase
Astro Bank for €205m, with the deal expected to be finalised towards the end of 2025.
Following the acquisition, Alpha Bank will form Cyprus’s third largest bank.
Banking Payment Charges
In comparison to the UK banking sector, the charges levied by Cypriot banks in general
are relatively higher. However, by understanding the charges involving sending and
receiving monies, account holders can significantly lower their banking charges.
Speaking generally about Cyprus bank charges on deposits and withdrawals, account
holders are better off using ATMs where possible rather than going into the branch, as
some banks (Eurobank) will charge you nominal fees as a percentage of your deposit or
withdrawal, capped at around €20. If you regularly pay-in and withdraw-from your
account, these fees can accumulate quickly and erode your cash balance; therefore,
using the free ATMs is the way to go about it.
Payment services fees can be significant. For payments-in of foreign currencies, the
transaction fee can be as high as 0.3%. Eurobank levy a minimum charge of €6 and
maximum charge of €500! Therefore, we recommend you explore options to convert
your foreign currency to Euros before sending it to your Cyprus bank account, to avoid
paying these charges.
Payments made from a Eurobank account can also trigger high fees. A payment out in
Euros over €50,000 can have an associated maximum charge of €350! When paying out
and using foreign currencies, the maximum is capped at €500!
Whilst the figures used above have been taken from Eurobank’s new charging structure
that comes into effect from 3 November 2025, Cypriot banking charges across the
sector are similar. We recommend if you are dealing with high value transactions with
payments in or out of your Cyprus account, you should request a copy of the Fees &
Charges statement, so you can become more informed. Often, splitting a larger
payment into smaller more frequent transactions is a straightforward solution to save
you a lot on banking charges.
Financial Security & Cyprus Banks
Under an EU directive, the Deposit Guarantee Fund protects deposits in EU banks up to
€100,000. In 2013, thousands of bank customers across Cyprus who held over
€100,000 had their savings taken. This was linked to the Greek government debt crisis,
and the savings taken from customers were used to save the Cypriot credit sector from
complete collapse. At the time, this came as a complete shock to these bank
customers, and they were unable to act quickly enough to protect their cash.
The Deposit Guarantee Fund is based on €100,000 per individual per banking
institution. This is important to note given the recent mergers in the Cyprus banking
sector. To use an example of how this has changed things, a customer who previously
held €75,000 in Alpha Bank and €75,000 in Astro Bank now holds €150,000 in Alpha
bank, and €50,000 of these savings are no longer protected by the Deposit Guarantee
Fund. Therefore, we recommend that if you hold over €100,000 in savings in one Cyprus
bank, you should transfer the excess to a different institution to guarantee the maximum
security for your savings.
Should you have any questions, feel free to contact us on info@3dglobal.com for more
information, we would be happy to help.