Cyprus considers mobile-number payments as Eurobank raises €600m green bond

Nicosia, Cyprus. Cyprus is preparing a new interbank payment service that would allow customers to transfer money using only a recipient’s mobile phone number, with a possible launch in the first quarter of 2027. Separately, Eurobank raised €600 million through a seven-year green senior preferred bond.

Mobile payment service

Plans for the proposed payment service are expected to enter a more detailed phase in early September, when JCC Payments holds its first substantive meeting with members of the Association of Cyprus Banks (ACB).

The meeting will examine technical and procedural requirements for a Cypriot service modelled on Greece’s IRIS system. The project is expected to be developed by JCC in cooperation with Greek interbank payments operator DIAS.

Customers of participating banks would not need to enter or exchange an IBAN for eligible transfers. Instead, they would select or enter the recipient’s mobile phone number through their banking application.

Eurobank bond issue

Eurobank’s €600 million bond issue was 2.8 times oversubscribed, as investors responded strongly to the bank’s latest debt offering.

The bond can be called by Eurobank after six years and was priced at a spread of 98 basis points over the mid-swap rate. Initial guidance had placed pricing at around 125 basis points above mid-swap, implying a yield of approximately 4.54 per cent.

Strong demand allowed the bank to tighten the spread before completing the issue.

The bond is expected to receive ratings of Baa1 from Moody’s, BBB- from S&P, BBB from Fitch and BBBH from Morningstar DBRS.

The transaction forms part of Eurobank’s strategy to meet and strengthen its Minimum Requirement for own funds and Eligible Liabilities (MREL) position by raising eligible capital through international markets.