THE banking woes of Italy, the euro area's third-biggest member, pale next to those that, four years ago, plagued Cyprus, its second-smallest. Now there is cause for cautious optimism. This month Bank of Cyprus, the biggest local lender, finished repaying €11.4bn ($12.2bn) of emergency liquidity assistance from the country's central bank. It followed that by returning to the bond markets, raising €25om in a sale of unsecured notes, albeit with a stiff 9.25% coupon.
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