At its meeting on 26 July 2004, the Board of Directors of the Bank of Cyprus Group, in the context of the Restructuring Project undertaken with the support of the International Consulting House McKinsey & Company with the aim of improving the policy and practice followed by the Group in relation to corporate governance, has decided that both the Chairman and Vice-chairman will have non executive duties, in line with the best practices followed in the European Union and the United States.

To this end, the positions of Group Chief Executive Officer and Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer have been created in order to resume the executive responsibilities of the existing Bank of Cyprus Group Top Executive Management, comprising the Group Chairman (Mr. S.A. Triantafyllides), the Chief Executive of Bank of Cyprus (Mr. Chr. Pantzaris) and the Group Chief General Manager (Mr. E. Xenophontos).

The Board of Directors, after the unanimous recommendation of the ad hoc Selection Committee, has decided to appoint Mr. Andreas Eliades at the position of Group Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Eliades is currently the Group General Manager - Bank of Cyprus Greece and will, for the time being, continue to have responsibilities for the management of the Bank in Greece until new arrangements are put in place.

Mr. Charilaos Stavrakis, until now the Group General Manager - International Banking Services, has been appointed as Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer and Chief Executive Officer - Cyprus.

Mr. Yiannis Kypri, Group General Manager Finance, is appointed as Group Chief General Manager and will resume wider responsibilities in the areas of Financial Control, Corporate Governance, capital and other related matters, which will be specified in due course. This position will have the largest possible degree of independence, in conjunction with the need for effective operation of the Group.

Messrs. A. Eliades, Ch. Stavrakis and Y. Kypri will comprise the Group Chief Executive Committee.

The current Group Top Executive Management will continue to operate under its present structure until the handing over of responsibilities to the new Top Executive Management team is completed.

The new Group Top Executive Management will review the Group structure in detail, under the guidance of the Chairman. To this end, a dedicated Implementation Committee has been set up, which will submit its recommendations to the Board of Directors.

The target completion date for the necessary deliberations and consultations is 31 December 2004, so that the new arrangements for the new top executive management of the Bank of Cyprus Group (i.e. the taking over of the new duties and responsibilities by Messrs. Andreas Eliades, Charilaos Stavrakis and Yiannis Kypri) will become effective as from 1 January 2005. Until then, the existing arrangements will continue to apply, with close co-operation between the existing top management and the newly appointed executives.

This is a historic moment for the Group, as its Top Executive Management, comprising the Group Chairman Mr. S. Triantafyllides, the Chief Executive of Bank of Cyprus Mr. Chr. Pantzaris and the Group Chief General Manager Mr. E. Xenophontos, will hand over their executive duties to the new generation, which has much to contribute towards the future of the Group.

The Group Chairman, Mr. S. Triantafyllides, upon the completion of the process, will resume non-executive responsibilities. The Group Vice-chairman, Mr. Vassilis Rologis, will act as deputy to the Group Chairman.

Both the Chief Executive of Bank of Cyprus Mr. Chr. Pantzaris and the Group Chief General Manager Mr. E. Xenophontos, will continue to serve as members of the Group Board of Directors and as Chairmen or members of the Board of Directors of Group subsidiaries. They will also have a consulting role for the new Top Executive Management, drawing upon the valuable experience they have gathered over their long service at the management of the Group and will carry out such special duties as may be assigned to them in the future by the Board of Directors.