Hellenic Bank

Hellenic Bank Public Company Ltd (Greek: Ελληνική Τράπεζα Δημόσια Εταιρία Λτδ) (CSE: HB), is the second largest bank on the island of Cyprus with a 13.8% share of deposits (6.6 billion Euro) and 7.1% of the loans market (3.2 billion Euro) as of December 2014. By market capitalisation of 234 Million Euro as at 11 February 2016 it is the second largest Cypriot bank. Its shares are listed on the Cyprus Stock Exchange.

The bank was founded in 1976 with technical assistance from Bank of America and in 1996 it bought the local operations of Barclays Bank. A major shareholder (29%) was traditionally and for many years, the Church of Cyprus. Between November 2013 and December 2014, the Church's shareholding shrank to 4.2% making it the sixth largest shareholder after US based CPB FBO Third Point Hellenic Recovery Fund LP holding 26.3%, Belarus owned Wargaming Public Co Ltd holding 24.8%, Cyprus based Demetra Investments Public Ltd holding 10.6%, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development holding 5.4% and Canadian based Senvest International LLC/ Senvest Masterfund LP holding 5%. The board is composed of representatives of the top two shareholders.

Hellenic

Hellenic is a synonym for Greek. It means either:

See also

Bank

A bank is a financial institution that creates credit by lending money to a borrower, thereby creating a corresponding deposit on the bank's balance sheet. Lending activities can be performed either directly or indirectly through capital markets. Due to their importance in the financial system and influence on national economies, banks are highly regulated in most countries. Most nations have institutionalized a system known as fractional reserve banking under which banks hold liquid assets equal to only a portion of their current liabilities. In addition to other regulations intended to ensure liquidity, banks are generally subject to minimum capital requirements based on an international set of capital standards, known as the Basel Accords.

Banking in its modern sense evolved in the 14th century in the rich cities of Renaissance Italy but in many ways was a continuation of ideas and concepts of credit and lending that had their roots in the ancient world. In the history of banking, a number of banking dynasties — notably, the Medicis, the Fuggers, the Welsers, the Berenbergs and the Rothschilds — have played a central role over many centuries. The oldest existing retail bank is Monte dei Paschi di Siena, while the oldest existing merchant bank is Berenberg Bank.

Mobile banking

Mobile banking is a service provided by a bank or other financial institution that allows its customers to conduct a range of financial transactions remotely using a mobile device such as a mobile phone or tablet, and using software, usually called an app, provided by the financial institution for the purpose. Mobile banking is usually available on a 24-hour basis. Some financial institutions have restrictions on which accounts may be accessed through mobile banking, as well as a limit on the amount that can be transacted.

The types of financial transactions which a customer may transact through mobile banking include obtaining account balances and list of latest transactions, electronic bill payments, and funds transfers between a customer's or another's accounts. Some also enable copies of statements to be downloaded and sometimes printed at the customer's premises; and some banks charge a fee for mailing hardcopies of bank statements.

From the bank's point of view, mobile banking reduces the cost of handling transactions by reducing the need for customers to visit a bank branch for non-cash withdrawal and deposit transactions. Transactions involving cash or documents (such as cheques) are not able to be handled using mobile banking, and a customer needs to visit an ATM or bank branch for cash withdrawals and cash or cheque deposits.

Mobile app

A mobile app is a computer program designed to run on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. Most such devices are sold with several apps bundled as pre-installed software, such as a web browser, email client, calendar, mapping program, and an app for buying music or other media or more apps. Some pre-installed apps can be removed by an ordinary uninstall process, thus leaving more storage space for desired ones. Where the software does not allow this, some devices can be rooted to eliminate the undesired apps.

Mobile native apps stand in contrast to software applications that run on desktop computers, and to web applications which run in mobile web browsers rather than directly on the mobile device.

Overview

Apps that are not preinstalled are usually available through distribution platforms called app stores. They began appearing in 2008 and are typically operated by the owner of the mobile operating system, such as the Apple App Store, Google Play, Windows Phone Store, and BlackBerry App World. Some apps are free, while others must be bought. Usually, they are downloaded from the platform to a target device, but sometimes they can be downloaded to laptops or desktop computers. For apps with a price, generally a percentage, 20-30%, goes to the distribution provider (such as iTunes), and the rest goes to the producer of the app. The same app can therefore cost a different price depending on the mobile platform.