Showing posts with label savings grab. Show all posts
Showing posts with label savings grab. Show all posts
April 25, 2013
April 01, 2013
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Should the Cypriot bailout become a model for the future? The mere suggestion sent markets tumbling last week. But increasing numbers of European politicians would like to see bank shareholders and investors bear a greater share of crisis risk. The EU may be changing its strategy. By SPIEGEL Staff
Jeroen Dijsselbloem's original game plan was to just keep a low profile. When the 47-year-old Dutch finance minister became head of the Euro Group three months ago, the first thing he did was deactivate his Twitter account. In meetings of the finance ministers of the 17 euro-zone states, he let his counterparts do most of the talking. And whenever he appeared before reporters in Brussels afterwards, he would start with sentences like: "Maybe it's good, if I say something."
Dijsselbloem seemed determined to become the most boring of all the boring bureaucrats in Brussels -- until last Monday, that is, when he did something no one would have anticipated: He detonated a bomb. The way that large depositors and creditors were being drawn into the bailout of Cypriot banks, he said, could become a model for the entire euro zone. In future aid packages, he said, one must look into whether bank shareholders, bond holders and large depositors could participate so as to spare taxpayers from having to foot the bill. He was announcing nothing less than a 180 degree about face.
Cyprus as a model? Dijsselbloem had hardly finished his comments before international news agencies began registering its impacts. Markets around the world nosedived, the euro sank to a four-month low and EU leaders had to rush into damage-control mode, as did the man who triggered the storm himself. Dijsselbloem backtracked by saying that Cypriot banks were obviously "a special case." Germany's top-selling daily tabloid, Bild, scoffed that Dijsselbloem would get a new nickname in Brussels: "Dusselbloem," the rough equivalent of "Dimwit-bloem."
But the ridicule might prove premature. In reality, Dijsselbloem merely expressed something that many Europeans already think. Whether at the European Parliament or in several Continental capitals, many are saying that the time is ripe for the financial sector to assume a greater share of the costs for rescuing ailing banks. » | Martin Hesse, Michael Sauga, Cornelia Schmergal and Christoph Schult | Translate from the German by Josh Ward | Monday, April 01, 2013
March 30, 2013
RUSSIA TODAY: Large depositors in the Bank of Cyprus will get back 37.5 percent of their money in shares instead of cash, the Bank of Cyprus has confirmed. The move is the part of the painful Cyprus rescue package.
Under the new conditions, Bank of Cyprus clients with accounts with over 100,000 euros in deposits will be offered shares instead of cash in the bank for 37.5 percent of their deposits. Those under the 100,000 mark will reportedly not be required to participate in the scheme.
Authorities had previously predicted a loss to big depositors of 30 to 40 percent. Anger is mounting in the country as Cypriots protest the dissolving of the second-largest bank – Cyprus Popular Bank, also known as Laiki – and what they are calling a theft of their assets.
Under the terms of the deal, the assets of Laiki bank will be transferred to Bank of Cyprus.
At Bank of Cyprus, about 22.5 percent of deposits over 100,000 euros will earn no interest. The rest of the account will generate interest, but will not be repaid until the bank shows a strong performance. » | Saturday, March 30, 2013
MAIL ONLINE: Bank insider and government technocrat anonymously reveal latest plan / Deposits over 100,000 euros will lose 37.5% of their value / Savers then stand to lose a further 22.5% depending on an assessment / Cypriot banks refusing to release UK pension payments to expat Britons / President of Cyprus says there is 'no intention' of leaving the eurozone
Savers with over 100,000 euros deposited in the Bank of Cyprus could now be hit for losses of up to 60 per cent, according to a central bank official and a senior finance ministry technocrat.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they're not authorized to publicly discuss details of the issue, said deposits over 100,000 euros at the country's largest lender will lose 37.5 percent of their value after being converted into bank shares.
They said that savers could then lose up to 22.5 per cent more, depending on an assessment by officials who will determine the exact figure aimed at restoring the troubled bank back to health. » | Daniel Miller | Saturday, March 30, 2013
March 29, 2013
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: In Luxembourg, leaders are warning that applying the Cypriot bailout model -- a levy on bank deposits -- to other crisis-plagued countries could lead to a flight of investors from Europe. But the EU is considering the option anyway.
The debate over this week's "bail in" of bank account holders in Cyprus as part of the country's debt crisis bailout is continuing to simmer in Europe. In Luxembourg, Finance Minister Luc Frieden has warned that the example set in Cyprus by taxing people holding €100,000 ($129,000) or more in their accounts could drive investors out of Europe.
"This will lead to a situation in which investors invest their money outside the euro zone," he told SPIEGEL. "In this difficult situation, we need to avoid anything that will lead to instability and destroy the trust of savers."
Earlier this week, Euro Group President Jeroen Dijsselbloem sparked an enormous controversy after stating that the solution found in Cyprus could be applied throughout the euro zone in the future. » | dsl/SPIEGEL | Friday, March 29, 2013
March 28, 2013
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH – EXTRACT: Cypriots formed orderly queues outside the country’s banks after they reopened for the first time in nearly two weeks on Thursday, confounding fears that there would be scenes of unrest and violence.
…
Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, was the target of particular resentment.
“Merkel says every single Cypriot is guilty of dirty banking. But it is the Germans who should be ashamed for the greatest evil in the history of Europe – the Holocaust,” said a furious Cleri Machlouzarides, a chartered architect, outside a branch of Laiki Bank.
“Tell the bloody Nazis to go home. Germany should go and find someone their own size to pick on instead of trying to strangle us. Europeans should know it’s not going to stop here. “Luxembourg is next, then Spain, Portugal, Ireland.” … » | Nick Squires, in Nicosia | Thursday, March 28, 2013
March 27, 2013
YAHOO! FINACE – EXTRACT: As Cypriot savers see their savings used to bail out banks, we look at how safe your money is in a British bank.
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What about UK deposits? [Are they safe?] Sterling may be one of the world's weakest major currencies right now, but thankfully, we don't share it with anybody, including the Germans.
In the UK, we have our own deposit protection scheme, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. This guarantees the first £85,000 of your money (£170,000 for couples), should your bank, building society or credit union collapse.
Anybody who remembers desperate savers lining up outside the branches of bankrupt Northern Rock in September 2007 won't want to have a penny above that threshold.
Savers with larger sums must reduce their risk by spreading it between different banks. But watch out, that £85,000 limit only applies per banking licence.
Some institutions share a single licence, because they are owned by the same parent company. For example, The AA, Birmingham Midshires, Halifax and Saga all come under the Bank of Scotland licence. If you had, say, £50,000 with the AA and £50,000 with Halifax, you would only get £85,000 of protection. Read all | [Source: Yahoo! Finance] | Wednesday, March 27, 2013
BBC: Cyprus finance ministers are planning to impose a weekly limit on cash withdrawals, the BBC has learned.
The country's draft capital controls include export limits on euros and a ban on cashing cheques, says Newsnight economics editor Paul Mason.
In addition, fixed-term deposits will have to be held until maturity.
Cyprus's finance minister earlier confirmed that depositors with more than 100,000 euros could see 40% of their funds converted into bank shares.
But Michalis Sarris also said that Cypriot depositors with less than 100,000 euros in their accounts "will not be hit". » | Tuesday, March 26, 2013
March 26, 2013
MAIL ONLINE: People who rob old ladies in the street, or hold up security vans, are branded as thieves. Yet when Germany presides over a heist of billions of pounds from private savers’ Cyprus bank accounts, to ‘save the euro’ for the hundredth time, this is claimed as high statesmanship.
It is nothing of the sort. The deal to secure a €10 billion German bailout of the bankrupt Mediterranean island is one of the nastiest and most immoral political acts of modern times.
It has struck fear into the hearts of hundreds of millions of European citizens, because it establishes a dire precedent.
If democratically elected governments are willing to impose outright confiscation of up to 40 per cent of balances over €100,000 upon depositors in Cyprus, then why not another such hit tomorrow — in Spain, Italy or, most plausibly, Greece?
This is the most brutal display since 2008 of how far the euro-committed nations are willing to go to save the tottering single currency. It shows that the zone’s crisis will run and run, to the grievous disadvantage of almost everyone except the Germans. » | Max Hastings | Tuesday, March 26, 2013
RT.COM: Depositors in the Bank of Cyprus, the biggest bank on the island, will reportedly lose from 30 to 40 per cent on their holdings above 100,000 euro as result of a bailout agreement which Cyprus and the troika of international backers signed on Monday.
Irish Radio is quoting the chairman of the Cypriot parliamentary finance committee, Nicholas Papadopoulos, who said that the levy of 30 per cent will be imposed on the deep-pocketed savers.
"I haven't heard a formal announcement about the haircut, but this is the figure I heard," he said.
Bloomberg reports an even bigger figure as it refers to two EU officials, who claimed that the losses would be no more than 40 per cent on uninsured depositors at the Bank of Cyprus. » | Monday, March 25, 2013
March 24, 2013
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Cyprus may be on the verge of hammering out a deal to address its chronic debt crisis but many Cypriots fear that the island’s economy is destined for ruin regardless.
Nicos Anastasiades, the Cypriot president, and Michalis Sarris, his finance minister, are on their way to Brussels for emergency talks over a deal under which deposits of more than 100,000 euros in the Bank of Cyprus will be hit by a 20 per cent levy.
Deposits of more than 100,000 euros in other banks will be targeted by a four per cent forced levy.
Cyprus’s leaders are expected to submit to the drastic plan - which critics call daylight robbery - in return for a 10 billion euro bail-out loan to save the country from bankruptcy. While the deal may stave off immediate disaster, many Cypriots said the measures will shatter confidence in the island’s hugely profitable banking and financial services industry and lead to a massive exodus of investors, among them Russian tycoons and British retirees.
Islanders also fear that as the bank levies bite, businesses and big investors will have to start laying off staff, heralding high levels of unemployment.
Around 70 per cent of Cypriots are employed in the financial services and banking sector, a number that dwarfs the 20 per cent working in tourism.
“People are worried not just because they could lose their savings but because they could lose their jobs too,” said Ioanna Constantinou, 24, who works in the financial services industry in Nicosia, the Cypriot capital. » | Nick Squires, Nicosia | Sunday, March 24, 2013
March 23, 2013
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Cyprus was threatening to seize up to a quarter of the value of wealthy savers' bank accounts as part of a desperate bid to stave off financial meltdown.
As talks continued to prevent Europe's finance chiefs from pulling the plug on the country's stricken banks, the Cypriot government said it was considering a levy of 25 per cent on deposits of more than €100,000 held in accounts at the Bank of Cyprus, one of the island's most troubled lenders.
The fate of similar high-value deposits in other Cypriot banks has yet to be decided.
The move was among a package of measures designed to persuade eurozone officials to agree to a €10 billion bail-out deal over the weekend. The European Central Bank has said unless an agreement is reached, it will remove financial support for country's banks when they re-open this week, leaving them facing imminent collapse.
Late on Friday night, the Cypriot parliament also backed a revenue-raising levy of less than one per cent on bank deposits below €100,000 - a rate seen as fairer than the 6.75 per cent levy rejected by legislators last Tuesday.
However, the 25 per cent rate on high-value accounts at the Bank of Cyprus is likely to cause further ructions on the island, which has seen widespread protests in the last week. It is expected to particularly hit Russian investors, who make up the bulk of the Cypriot financial sector's high-value clients. » | Colin Freeman, in Nicosia, Graham Ruddick and agencies | Saturday, March 23, 2013
THE GUARDIAN: Widely respected ex-leader George Vassiliou says whole European system may suffer if corrective measures not taken
When George Vassiliou is worried that is a worrying thing. Widely seen as Cyprus's most effective president in modern times, the 82-year-old is now viewed, even by his enemies, as the voice of common sense.
Today, Vassiliou is so anxious about the state of the country he governed between 1988 and 1993 that he is worried saying anything at all will only make matters worse.
It's not just the partitioned island's membership of the European Union, which Vasilliou deftly negotiated back in 2004, that is now at stake, or the imminent threat of national bankruptcy. It's what happens next if Cyprus is to have a scintilla of a hope of restoring confidence in the financial services sector that, alongside tourism, underpins the tiny nation's economy.
"Cyprus is not just an island in the sun. We have developed a unique service sector which was based on confidence in the banking system," he told the Guardian.
"If that confidence is lost then you have nothing left. Everything that has been created will be destroyed, with formidable repercussions." » | Helena Smith in Nicosia | Friday, March 22, 2013
March 20, 2013
HERALD SUN: THE Cyprus fiasco teaches a terrific - but often forgotten - lesson to every social planner of the Left.
That fiasco is the astonishing decision to steal up to 10 per cent from every bank deposit in Cyprus to help fund a bailout of that country's banks.
This overnight theft was a condition demanded by the new masters of Europe, the European Union and International Monetary Fund, to raise $8 billion towards its $12.5 billion bailout of Cyprus.
But Cypriots reacted with such fury that not one Cypriot MP dared back the plan and even the Cypriot President, who reluctantly struck the deal last week, dropped it "because (the people) think it is unjust".
The banks remained closed for days to stop a bank run by people who rightly realised their accounts were now overseen by thieves and the panic threatened to spread to other debt-crushed European countries.
Even in Australia, our markets plunged $30 billion for fear of what might happen next. As former Cyprus central bank governor Athanasios Orphanides rightly said: "To confiscate deposits is essentially sending a message that no one with deposits ... in a weak country, like Spain, should feel safe ..."
So here are the lessons for the Left. » | Andrew Bolt | Herald Sun | Wednesday, March 20, 2013
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Cyprus on Tuesday rejected the terms of a bailout package offered by Brussels and is now turning to Moscow for help. Russian President Vladimir Putin may charge a very high price in exchange for aid for the nearly bankrupt euro-zone country.
The inhabitants of Limassol, Cyprus, sometimes like to call their city "Little Moscow" because of the number of Russian businesspeople residing there. Southern Cyprus is home to the holding companies of numerous Russian oligarchs. Now, because the parliament in Nicosia rejected the terms of the European Union's bailout package for the country, Cyprus' government is looking for assistance in Russia, a country from which countless billions have flowed into the Mediterranean island nation over the years.
Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone on Tuesday evening. And Finance Minister Michalis Sarris arrived on Tuesday night in Moscow and began meetings on Wednesday. Sarris is negotiating with the Kremlin over possible Russian support, though the talks have produced little so far. The leaders of a state that is a member of both the EU and the euro zone is now turning to Russia for help. It would be hard to imagine a more uncomfortable situation for the Kremlin. » | Benjamin Bidder in Moscow | Wednesday, March 20, 2013
March 19, 2013
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Cyprus turned to Russia for help on Tuesday night after the country's parliament overwhelmingly rejected a tax on the deposits of bank savers.
With protesters celebrating in the streets, the rejection of a draconian levy left a planned £8.5 billion eurozone bail-out to save the Mediterranean island in chaos.
The country's finance minister defied explicit warnings from Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and left Cyprus for urgent talks in Russia.
Michael Sarris flew to Moscow to plead for aid, despite Mrs Merkel warning Cyprus not to enter into negotiations with Russia, raising the spectre of eurozone disintegration.
"The chancellor once again emphasised that the negotiations are to be conducted only with the troika (the European Union, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund)," said her spokesman.
Not a single Cypriot MP voted in favour of a eurozone rescue package that had been made conditional by Germany on the Cypriot government finding £5 billion to pay off its debts by raiding bank deposits, including the savings of up to 60,000 Britons.
Under the original eurozone deal at the weekend, Cyprus agreed to impose a levy of 6.75 per cent on bank accounts up to €100,000 (£85,000) and 9.9 per cent for larger deposits.
Despite a compromise proposal not to tax any bank deposit less than €20,000 (£17,000), the country's 36 MPs rejected a deposit tax that has rattled financial markets and threatened the island's future as an offshore banking haven for Russian investors, with 19 MPs abstaining from the vote.
"There can only be one answer: no to blackmail," Yiannakis Omirou, the speaker of the Cypriot parliament said. » | Bruno Waterfield, Brussels, Richard Spencer in Nicosia and Robert Tait in Limassol | Tuesday, March 19, 2013
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