The shareholders meeting, which has ended, is to be followed by a board meeting where a decision will be taken on who will fill the seats of chairman and vice chairman. Ackerman is tipped for the top spot.

The new board will represent the new shareholder structure, following the €1 billion capital increase in August.

As the AGM was in session on Thursday Bank of Cyprus bondholders protested outside throwing stones and other objects at the building. A number of them barged in through the back door of the BoC’s headquarters shouting and chanting until they were removed by police. The protest was short lived and did not interrupt proceedings.

Inside, Bank of Cyprus chief executive officer John Hourican said the lender while it remains ‘at war with circumstance’ has made good progress in ‘shrink to strength strategy’ after selling operations abroad.

Hourican who was addressing shareholders at the meeting in Nicosia today, said that the lender, which uncovered plans to have its shares listed at the Cyprus stock exchange and Athens exchange ‘will continue to delegate extraordinary efforts to tackling the very high level of arrears and non-performing loans’.

Source: Cyprus Mail