# Cyprus banks



## Anne & Andy (May 5, 2011)

Hi, we are moving to Southern Cyprus later this year. Can anyone give any advice on banks. How secure are they. Do they have a system as we do in UK, where funds are safe, which is the best bank. As we are renting to begin with, how do we open an account. We would like to hear positive & negative feed back. 
Thanks Guy,s looking forward to being where you are!


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

Anne & Andy said:


> Hi, we are moving to Southern Cyprus later this year. Can anyone give any advice on banks. How secure are they. Do they have a system as we do in UK, where funds are safe, which is the best bank. As we are renting to begin with, how do we open an account. We would like to hear positive & negative feed back.
> Thanks Guy,s looking forward to being where you are!


The banks in Cyprus are as safe as anywhere, maybe safer than a lot.
If you have savings the government guarantees up to 100k if the bank goes down.
To open an account you just need to have your passport and you may be asked to show your rental contract.
The Laiki (Marfin) bank is very good, we take all of our clients there when they need to open a bank account.


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## Anne & Andy (May 5, 2011)

Hi Veronica, thanks for your reply. What services do they offer, ATM ect.


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

Anne & Andy said:


> Hi Veronica, thanks for your reply. What services do they offer, ATM ect.


Hi, Yes they have ATMs, online banking if you want it. 
I suppose most of the services that are offered by British banks are also available from Cyprus banks.
If you have savings the interest is much better than UK banks.


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## Cleo Shahateet (Feb 23, 2009)

Hi Anne and Andy - Good to see you on here. Laiki and Bank of Cyprus are both good and offer all the usual services and online banking. Employees speak English well and are very helpful when you stop in.


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## Anne & Andy (May 5, 2011)

Thanks, no doubt we will have more questions!


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## Anne & Andy (May 5, 2011)

Hi Cleo fancy meeting you here! thanks for info. We will be back with more questions!!!


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## Anne & Andy (May 5, 2011)

Hi Veronica.

We as you know are " NEWBIES" to the site and we are facinated by your wealth of knowledge and advice you offer, if you dont mind a question where do you gain all this from!! Curious.


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

After 7 years of living here and having to find out things for clients you tend to learn a lot. Still an awful lot to learn though. I find that other peoples input on t his forum often teaches me a lot that I dont know.
I am not too proud to admit if I get something wrong. 
With forums such as this you should never take what you are told as gospel because we are all human and can get things wrong. Always ask the real experts wherever possible.


Veronica


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## footpad2010 (Apr 3, 2011)

*Banks*

Hi there,
We started considering a move to Cyprus 3 years ago and investigated all the banks. We decided on the Bank of Cyprus (in Larnaca) as they seemed to have the biggest assets. We opened the account from London with the help of the Bank in Southgate.
We had no problems opening the account and have been issued with Visa Electron cards, and savings account. We have used the services on Recce' trips and move out on 24th May.
I can only speak from my experience but they were very helpful and reassuring. hope this is of use to you, 
good Luck
Charles and Naomi:clap2:


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## desert girl (Oct 16, 2010)

Hi.We will be moving to Cyprus in July.We nipped over for 3 days and opened a simple a/c at Bank of Cyprus in Paphos.All we needed was passports,and copy of a utility bill,showing address.(Which is Abu Dhabi) We also took along bank statements.Opened in about 30 min.Online banking.Manager said when we do move to Cyprus to come in with rental aggrement and they will issue atm cards and open savings account.


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## Anne & Andy (May 5, 2011)

Hi Charles & Naomi

thank you for the info. We will keep this in mind. We are going to Cyprus for a few days before moving so opening our b/a before we move would be very helpful. Good luck with your move, we hope to be following shortly!


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## LadyExpat (Jun 21, 2011)

I recommend gaining an account with a local bank more or less within your first week here. If you plan to apply for residency it is handy to have a few months of money going through it. I went through the international business unit of the Bank of Cyprus to get ours set up. It was nice and easy and we were treated very well.


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## jim2272 (Jan 24, 2012)

*mr james chapman*



Veronica said:


> The banks in Cyprus are as safe as anywhere, maybe safer than a lot.
> If you have savings the government guarantees up to 100k if the bank goes down.
> To open an account you just need to have your passport and you may be asked to show your rental contract.
> The Laiki (Marfin) bank is very good, we take all of our clients there when they need to open a bank account.


Hello Veronica you seem pritty clued up about most things we have had a mortgage with the cyprus bank now for nearly five years .We are come july at the end of our terms with the bank can we then shop around and get the best deal like in the uk .We have talked to the cyprus bank but they say we have to stay with them and we can not shop around thanks jim


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

jim2272 said:


> Hello Veronica you seem pritty clued up about most things we have had a mortgage with the cyprus bank now for nearly five years .We are come july at the end of our terms with the bank can we then shop around and get the best deal like in the uk .We have talked to the cyprus bank but they say we have to stay with them and we can not shop around thanks jim


Hi Jim,
I don't know what the terms of your mortgage are but unless there is a clause saying that you will have to pay a penalty if you change your mortgage i don't see how they can stop you. The only way of course would be to get a mortgage from another lender and pay off the current mortgage with that. However you should bear in mind that you might end up paying a higher interest rate with a new mortgage as the banks here are now very reluctant to give new mortages. When they do the rates tend to be around 7% at the moment.

Veronica


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