Central Bank searches for Troika approval to inform Cypriot banks on their needs.

The Central Bank has asked the International Lenders for approval to officially inform banks about their recapitalization needs, in a suitable way to enable the banks to accurately announce to investors, their financial results for 2012.

The deadline for publishing the first results is February 28^th. The principal entities, Bank of Cyprus and the Popular Bank argued that they are unable to present results on this cut-off date as they have not yet been informed about how much recapitalization they will require. Announcing the results without this information might be misleading to investors. Both banks have asked the Stock Exchange authorities for an extension.

However to give them an extension on the date is prohibited by law governing transparency and market manipulation. In addition Investment Managers Pimco have been hired to carry out due diligence of the Cypriot banks to establish their capital needs ahead of an overall bailout package sought by Cyprus.

The final findings of the due diligence will only be made public if the new president of Cyprus, to be decided next Sunday, signs off the final loan agreement.