Bank of Cyprus ranks 19th among mid-sized banks in Forbes global ranking

Nicosia, Cyprus. Bank of Cyprus (BoC) ranked 19th among 102 mid-sized banks in Forbes’ first World’s Top Performing Banks ranking. It was the only Cypriot lender on the 2026 list, which covers 500 banks in 89 countries.

Ranking and methodology

The ranking, produced with market research firm Statista, assesses financial performance rather than customer survey results. It is separate from Forbes’ existing national and global bank rankings, which rely primarily on customer evaluations.

Banks are divided into six groups by balance-sheet size so that institutions of broadly comparable scale can be assessed against one another. BoC placed 19th in Tier 4, which covers 102 banks with total assets of $20 billion to $50 billion. Forbes’ latest company data puts BoC Holdings’ assets at around $27.4 billion, revenue at $1.4 billion and profit at $549.7 million.

Assessment criteria

Profitability carries 30 per cent of the ranking’s weighting, capital and funding resilience 25 per cent, asset quality and efficiency 25 per cent, and growth and earnings quality 20 per cent.

The profitability assessment includes return on average assets, cost-to-income ratios and net interest margins. Growth and earnings quality covers earnings growth, stability and customer deposit growth over three-year periods. Resilience measures include capital strength and loan-to-deposit ratios, while asset quality and efficiency covers credit quality, risk management and balance-sheet resilience.

The assessment used financial information from providers including S&P Capital IQ, as well as desk research and information submitted by banks. To qualify, banks had to have more than $3 billion in assets, be licensed deposit-taking institutions with lending among their core activities, publish statements for their latest fully audited financial year and provide at least three consecutive years of financial data.

BoC chief executive Panicos Nicolaou called the recognition “a particularly important distinction” and said it further confirmed the bank’s resilience, financial strength and execution of its strategy.