Despite Cyprus recovering from the 2013 banking crisis, Cypriots are still wary of financial institutions with trust levels at their lowest since the economic meltdown.
Cypriots have cast a vote of no-confidence in the banking system according to a survey conducted by online financial newspaper Stockwatch.
Local banks have garnered the lowest level of trustworthiness since the collapse Laiki Bank during the 2013 bailout, exhibiting that scars from the island’s near banking collapse have deepened with liquidation of the Co-op, the second bank to disappear in just five years.
The survey which is the 17th to be conducted since 2013, records the abrupt decline of confidence in July following a deal in which Hellenic Bank acquired the healthy parts of the troubled Cyprus Co-op.
Stockwatch’s survey involving 600 households, showed Cypriots giving the banks a fail grade of an overall 4.48 out of 10, while the previous survey in March, saw banks scoring a higher 5.39.
The 4.48 score is the worst recorded by Stockwatch since February 2013 when it launched its banking survey. Reliability then stood at 4.69.
Taking the fears surrounding the Co-op out of the equation, the banks credibility rating was 4.75 – about the same level as in February 2013.
Respondents were asked to what extent – on a scale from 0 to 10 – they trust nine banking institutions active on the island, and whether they would recommend them.
Bank of Cyprus scored the highest grade with an overall 5.75 falling from 6 in the previous survey.
BoC scored 5.9 as to how credible consumers found it to be, and 5.6 when people where asked whether they would recommend the bank to a friend or family member.
Hellenic’s overall rating fell from 5.85 in March to 5.2 in July.
RCB came in third scoring 4.95 out of 10 falling from 5.65 in March.
As expected, people’s trust in the Co-op has collapsed to 2.3 from 5.4 in the previous survey.
Stockwatch said the Co-op – holding the largest amount of Cypriot deposits – had the highest rating in a survey conducted the same time last year.
As far as other banks are concerned, Eurobank received 4.65 compared to 5.35 in March, Alpha Bank 4.70 from 5.25 and Astrobank 4.25 from 5.15 in March 2018.
CDB Bank was rated 4.15 falling from 5 and USB Bank fell to 4.35 from 4.90.
