Daily Press Review - 4/6/2019

Commercial & Corporate Banking in Cyprus: Hellenic Bank

In Business publishes a special feature on Commercial & Corporate Banking in Cyprus, which features Hellenic Bank. It is reported that after the acquisition of the former Co-op’s business, Hellenic Bank was established as the biggest retail bank of Cyprus. At the same time, the bank is on the forefront of financing the development of the most important sectors of the economy. Its success is based on customer-centric services that its personnel offers, the wide range of competitive products and services that it offers and the usage of advanced information and control systems. Hellenic Bank has adopted a customer-centric organisational structure which allows it to fully meet the different needs and demands of its varied customer base. The different business divisions and units of the bank are able to meet the needs of different customer categories. The main goal of the bank’s business division is to constantly upgrade and expand the bank’s business relationship with corporate customers, public companies and semi-governmental organisations. In this framework, the main goal is to constantly offer the best possible services to the customers as well as offer comprehensive solutions that will include all the Bank’s products and services, depending on the constantly changing financial needs of the customers. The Corporate Division has two Corporate Centres while the Business Division has seven Business Centres, across Cyprus. Each centre’s mission, which employs qualified and specifically trained officers, is to serve all the current and future banking needs of its clients. The business customers of the former Co-op, have already been incorporated under the Business Division umbrella of Hellenic Bank and have been allocated to the different Business Centres. They have also been informed about the Relationship Officer who took over their account. Where feasible, the Relationship Officer remained the same individual who handled their account in the former Co-op, so as to make the transition as smooth as possible. It is added that Hellenic Bank observes the Cypriot economy closely and in a systematic manner, so as to adjust its activities accordingly as it comes to further penetration in sectors with a positive outlook. It aims to continue channelling liquidity, by providing loans in sectors such as tourism, health, energy, education, large-scale development projects and large infrastructure projects; even in the sector of hydrocarbons, depending on how drilling goes in Cyprus. Cyprus, has started offering important investment opportunities and a further improvement of the business environment is necessary in order to support both local and foreign businesses. Finally, it is noted that Hellenic Bank chooses to focus on quality and fast service as well as the relationship with its customers. It invests in the specialised knowledge of its Relationship Officers, high-tech systems and tries to be close to its clients in every possible way.





Ask the professionals

In Business features three HR professionals who take the magazine’s professional quiz. Among them is Efie Stefanidou who is Human resources business partners manager at Hellenic Bank. In terms of philosophy that they HR department follows, she says that they respect the human resources of the organisation and recognise their talents. As it comes to what constitutes talent, she says that this is committing and being passionate about work. Asked on how quickly the bank’s department hires people, she says that they hire quickly but never easily. Asked about how many people she have fired so far, she replies: “as much as foreseen by the principles of corporate governance and the procedures of the bank”. Asked on how a negative employee is handled, she replies that they try to understand the cause and put forward proposals so as to make him a part of the family of Hellenic Bank. Asked on what was the worst thing she heard during an interview, she said that someone had told her that he hasn’t worked so far, because he hadn’t found something that suits their abilities. Asked on how do they keep an employee satisfied, she replied: “with a healthy work environment, rewarding and recognising performance and promotion opportunities/career paths”.



Cyprus Shipping Chamber

Politis reports that the Cyprus Shipping Chamber (CSC) held its 30^th annual general meeting, on Thursday 30 May 2019 in Limassol at the Four Seasons hotel. The meeting managed to grasp the attention of important speakers, such as the President of the Republic (PoR) Mr. Nicos Anastasiades and Mr. Demetris Syllouris. In view of its 30^th anniversary, Mr. Esben Poulsson, the Chairman of International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), and Mr. Claes Berglund, the Vice-president of the European Community Shipowners’ Association (ECSA), also gave a speech acknowledging Cypriot shipping at an international level with their attendance. The President spoke about the multi-faceted work and contribution of the CSC towards the continuous development of the Cypriot shipping industry, and identified the industry as one of the main pillars of Cypriot economy.

 

The Limassol port is modernised

Politis reports that the President will inaugurate Eurogate’s new state-of-the-art cranes this coming Saturday.  This will officially mark the completion of Eurogate’s 1st phase of investments on the container terminal at Limassol port, worth over €30m and can now accommodate the biggest commercial ships of the world. In the framework of Eurogate’s investment program, as mentioned yesterday at a press conference by George Pouros, they bought two state-of-the-art cranes (super post panama), which have been in full operation over the past month as well as 17 new container transport vehicles. They repaired 3 older cranes and upgraded equipment, which they received by Cyprus Ports Authority. Lastly, they modernised the operation systems and infrastructure of the terminal while they also adopted international practices. These all contributed to establishing the Limassol port as one of the most advanced port infrastructures in the Eastern Mediterranean, with immediate and efficient service of traders.

 

In anticipation of Paphos-Egypt connection

Phileleftheros reports that the possibility for a costal connection between Paphos and Egypt, is still in its early stages. Tourism bodies in Paphos are waiting to see to what extent this will be discussed during contacts between the two sides, in order to promote it in 2020. Organisations are working on the matter of registering cruises from Egypt to Cyprus, initially for the summer period and on a permanent basis in the future. Despite not going into details, most likely cruise ships from Egypt will be reaching the Limassol port, which has the appropriate infrastructure and not Kato Paphos. Sources say that negotiations for an air connection between Paphos and neighbouring countries, such as Cairo or Alexandria are encouraging.



Enormous luxury hotel complex will open soon in Athens

A new, huge hotel is set to operate in the Greek capital, along with the new casino that will open its doors in Elliniko. As it has already been announced, the casino will occupy an area of approximately 12,000 square meters, along with a large conference and exhibition center of a similar size, and an event venue with a capacity of 3,000 people. Next to the casino a luxurious hotel complex will be developed and it is expected that it will transform the tourist map of the city. The hotel will have a five-star rating and 2.000 beds and will be the biggest integrated resort in Athens. At least this is foreseen in the international bidding competition announced by the Hellenic Gaming Commission for the provision of a license for the development of a casino in the Elliniko - Agios Kosmas area. The offers must be accompanied by a letter of guarantee amounting to €7.5m



Hoteliers in Paphos are concerned about noise pollution

The Cyprus Hotel Association in Paphos expressed their intense concern about noise pollution. The local president of PASYXE Paphos mentioned that the noise pollution issue worries hoteliers especially, as every summer they observe increased levels of noise pollution. The problem is intensified late at night, when visitors are trying to get some rest.



Kissonerga welcomes marina announcement

Kissonerga welcomes the President’s announcement that a marina and cruise ship docking infrastructure will be developed in Kissonerga. Community leaders believe that the marina, with the inclusion of cruise ship docking infrastructure, is a very attractive business proposal that will attract many serious entrepreneurs both from home and abroad, revitalise and bring long-term profit for the entire region.



Where the new system didn’t work, the old one was used

Yesterday, the Limassol General Hospital recorded a 25% decrease on patient arrivals, which appears to be dedicated to many citizens visiting their chosen GP within the GHS framework. Until 1:00 p.m. the hospital was visited by 780 patients, down by 20%-25% compared to the amount of patients visiting the hospital prior to the GHS implementation (about 1000-1200 patients). Also, about 130 individuals visited the old Limassol hospital and 40 visited the health centre in Linopetra.



Paphos General Hospital was deserted

Yesterday’s image of Paphos General Hospital (PGH) reminded of a pre-EU era in Cyprus, when there was no free access to health care. The waiting areas of health centres were almost empty, while previously they had been filled with people. Nobody expected such an immediate decongestion in only the 1st day of the GHS’ implementation. This was also influenced by the fact that many European citizens who are beneficiaries, experienced problems in the registration process and were unable to enjoy the benefits right away. Another reason is that many patients visited the GP of their choice.



Concerns about pharmaceuticals

The Pancyprian Federation of Patients and Friends (POSPF)’s president Marios Kouloumas, mentioned that they received many complaints from people who were experiencing technical problems and he reassured them would get resolved soon. He said that most of the calls they received concerned medicines, and the patients’ concerns about the inclusion of their prescribed medicine in the GHS catalogues. Some pharmaceuticals appear to be out of stock or were not included in the initial GHS list. He also mentioned, that a patient complained because their GP’s wasn’t able to refer them to clinical laboratory exams. They also highlighted that the association received many complaints about the service they received in the context of GHS, by state hospitals and health centres. It appears that hospitals have not been completely familiarised with the new system of the HIO.