The Bank of Cyprus Group was founded in 1899 and is the leading banking and financial services group in Cyprus. The Group provides a wide range of financial products and services which include retail and commercial banking, finance, factoring, investment banking, brokerage, fund management, private banking, life and general insurance. The Group currently has a network a total of 300 branches in Cyprus, Russia, the United Kingdom and Channel Islands and employs 6898 staff worldwide. The Group also has 5 representative offices in Russia, Ukraine, China and South Africa. Following the decision of the Eurogroup meeting held on 25 March 2013 and the decrees issued by the Central Bank of Cyprus in its capacity as the Resolution Authority, Bank of Cyprus has acquired the insured deposits and the majority of the assets and loans of the Cyprus Popular Bank Public Co Ltd (“Laiki”) and as a result it currently operates through 130 branches in Cyprus and with 4.240 employees. In addition, the Group exited Greece, a market in which it has operated for the last 22 years, through the disposal of loans, fixed assets and deposits from its banking operations in the country. In Romania, the Group transferred certain assets and liabilities including most customer deposits, certain loan agreements and related collateral, cash and other liquid assets to the subsidiary of Laiki in Romania. In the UK, deposits of the UK Branch of Laiki Bank have been transferred to BOC’s UK subsidiary and advances to the parent company of the Group. As part of the Bank’s strategy of deleveraging through the disposal of non-core operations and of focusing on core businesses, the Bank has recently completed the sale of its operations in Ukraine, it disposed its investment in Romanian Banca Transilvania and also of certain loans in Serbia.