Bank of Cyprus repays 11.4 billion euros in emergency funds

Bank of Cyprus, the Mediterranean island's largest lender, Thursday announced it had paid back in full the 11.4 billion euros in Emergency Liquidity Assistance it received in an international bailout.

"Bank of Cyprus announces that it has today fully repaid the ELA funding it has been receiving from the Central Bank of Cyprus," the bank said in a statement.

It said it was "another significant milestone in the journey back to strength since 2013".

In March 2013, Cyprus clinched a 10-billion-euro loan from the European Union and International Monetary Fund to bail out its troubled economy and oversized banking system.

Under the terms of the deal, the government was required to close the island's second-largest bank, Laiki, and impose a 47.5 percent haircut on deposits above 100,000 euros at Bank of Cyprus.

The bank has since undergone major restructuring, which included absorbing the good assets of the former Laiki Bank and selling assets.

The full repayment of the ELA "should further strengthen stakeholders' confidence that the bank is becoming a stronger, safer and a more focused institution capable of delivering appropriate shareholder returns over the medium term," bank CEO John Patrick Hourican said.

The bank, which is applying for a listing on the London Stock Exchange, intends to maintain a listing on the Cyprus Stock Exchange but will no longer be listed on the Athens Exchange.

Bank of Cyprus hopes to become eligible for inclusion in the FTSE UK Index series.