Bank of Cyprus says that it will not sell off its Greek operations under any circumstances.

Bank of Cyprus CEO Yiannis Kypris told CyBC television news that the Bank’s Board has reaffirmed its long standing position that the Greek operations are there to stay.

He said plans have been drawn to make its Greek operations profitable again, which include a re-organisation, closing down some bank shops and reducing the number of employees through a voluntary redundancy scheme.

Bank of Cyprus Greek operations turnover equals its turnover in Cyprus.

A newspaper said yesterday that Japanese Nomura Bank Group had written to the Central Bank governor offering to buy the Greek operations of all three major Cyprus banks, accounting for about 12 percent of banking business in Greece.

Bank of Cyprus and Cyprus Laiki Bank sufferred heavy losses on account of their exposure to the Greek sovereign debt and estensive lending to Greek businesses and households.

Both banks have asked for state funds to recapitalise.

Hellenic Bank suffered smaller losses.

CYBC