Apparently Russian energy giant Gazprom has offered Cyprus an alternative to the Troika bailout in exchange for exploration rights for natural gas in the island, according to reports in the Greek media.
But wouldn't you rather have the original amount protected by the original deposit protection scheme?
It's not just the bank going bust it's the country, so assuming there was one who is going to honour it?
Cyprus has gas?
Its quite a quaint idea to refer to the deposits made by Vladimir Putins friends as 'savings'. Bless 'em. They've been putting a little bit of their hard-earned wages to one side, every week. Maybe doing without life's little luxuries, so as to save for a rainy day? 😆
Looks like the Cypriot government have cancelled the bail-out vote this afternoon, and the banks are to remain closed.
No doubt as the result of the large men, with conspicuous bulges in their jackets, who just arrived on the flight from Moscow to 'have a word'
cypriot mate reckons its punishment from the EU for laundering russian money, allegedly more than 50% of banks money is russian
Cyprus has gas?
yes its offshore only snag is their close friends the Turks say its theirs......
This is a joke.
The euro needs to go....idealistic nonsense with no basis in sound financial reality.
Banks should've been allowed to fail a few years back....short term pain for a much more healthy long term banking sector.
The term 'too big to fail' and government handouts have given those in finance carte blanche to carry on as though the crisis never happened.
Raiding saving accounts is a low move, with the revenue the EU takes each year it is scandalous that they have to do this....but then the EU's finances are a joke so i shouldnt be surprised.
They could have started something terrible here...imagine if people move the bulk of their wealth out of EU banks?
and the banks are to remain closed.
Oh great well that'll help the people who need to buy things to live then Jeez
xcgb - Member"Cyprus has gas?"
yes its offshore only snag is their close friends the Turks say its theirs......
What could possibly go wrong?
Looks as if the vote has been put back until Tuesday.
What could possibly go wrong?
Alex Salmond claiming they're both wrong, and its all his? 😀
It's quite interesting- someone pointed out that the foundation of modern banking was partly based on the desire to keep your money out of government's hands... Charles 1st's raid on the private bullion in the Tower spurred investors to keep their money elsewhere, first in goldsmiths which then evolved into banks. I wonder where this might lead us now... Even if they pull back from it now the fact that it was ever on the table will get people thinking.
5thElefant - MemberIf my bank went bust I'd be quite relieved to get to keep 90% of my money.
And if someone else's bank went bust?
I'd be amazed if we don't see bank runs across other parts of the Eurozone as a result of this. I can't see them stopping, but even if they did just that fact they've considered it would have me running for the exits if I had money in Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal.......
Still, at least they're being open in their theft rather than Merv and Osborne printing to oblivion and killing us all with inflation.
Today is a public holiday in Cyprus so presumably the banks would have been closed anyway.
Wow id Binners and THM are saying the EU is in trouble and criticising the EUro then it must serious 😛
TBH a bunck of tax avoiders [ its a tax haven] and a bunch of russians moneyy launderers are out of pocket - why are you all so concerned about this - we are still talking about folk with £88K savings
Why help these?
Aprt of capitalism is the reward for risk and part of it is th eprice of failure.
You all moaned when we paid to bale them out now we all moan when we dont do it fully and ask them to help [ granted it should also involve the shareholders]
Bit like cars we want green taxes we dont want to pay more for our fule and we want quieter roads but we dont want to be the ones not driving
Its no wonder the politicians are idiots ; their masters are
Even if this theft is cancelled there is now the ongoing question, when or where next will this stunt be tried? And how many times if multiple bailouts are 'needed'?
It's the typical EU shooting themselves in the foot and undoing all their efforts thus far.
I wonder if my savings would have gone down more if there was a one off tax on them at 7% or the years of below inflation interests rates that we have.Our government is doing the same but slower. Inflation reduces the debt burden but is still paid for by savers.
+1
[i]This is way too simplistic - it's just a few Russian oligarchs - it's lots of perfectly legitimate Russian companies and investors into Russia who had structured investment via Cyprus to avoid double taxation and have investor protection, and legitimate corporate and middle class account holders who had kept their money in EU domiciled accounts instead of Russian ones to avoid exactly these shenanigans by the Russian government.[/i]
Please tell me this is sarcasm?
Today is a public holiday in Cyprus so presumably the banks would have been closed anyway.
Yes which explains the timing, but they are talking about closing them until friday
Wow id Binners and THM are saying the EU is in trouble and criticising the EUro then it must serious
Yip. Sometimes its hard just being the lone voice trying to speak out against the widely held consensus that its all going just great!! 🙄
You don't think that this crisis in Cyprus is going to have any kind of domino-effect throughout Southern Europe then? No.... of course not.... according to the Euro enthusiasts in Brussels, the whole Euro crisis was done and dusted and taken care of last year, wasn't it? I think there was you, and 3 other people who believed that
You should try being the forum doommonger Binners!
It's a dirty job but someone has to do it.
C''mon JY play the ball not the men - no room for ad Homs in the STW inn (lovely mixed metaphors). I know defending the indefensible is hard (that's why I love it) but lets stick to the facts in front of us. 😉 Not only is this more European nonsense, they compound it yet again by trying to hide fact behind technical jargonise. Remind us/me, these people are working for, or representing who, exactly?
JY - are you not getting that feeling of Deja vu? The technocrats in Brussels pouring billion after billion of other peoples money into a huge black hole, so they can kick the can down the road for another month or two? Before the next crisis? The one that looks remarkably like the last one... and the one before that... and the one before that... and the one before that... and the one before that... and the one before that...
All so that none of them have to face up to the uncomfortable reality that the currency/political project they created is, and always was, completely unworkable
Binners not doing this again just take it as joke or dont but really is rather like deabting this with farage tbh 😉
Wow neither of you mentioned the IMF just the Euro - who would have thunk that etc
Its is pointless to debate the Euro with you two - it is irrelavent what is happening you will say it is doomed to failure- of course currently its not good but where it tbh.
All is say is if they are willing to back it enough and pay the political and economic cost it will survive. Whether they will and whether that is good or bad is another issue
Oh yes.... I forgot... Anyone who thinks the Euro is/was a ridiculous idea from the beginning is a little Englaner/closet racist/Mail Reader/whatever.....
But each time the can is kicked it becomes heavier, travels less far, and does more damage to the foot that kicks it.
They gave us Pole Tax and now we are to receive Bedroom Tax
What's a Pole Tax (other than something UKIP would like to introduce)?
They gave us Pole Tax and now we are to receive Bedroom TaxWhat's a Pole Tax (other than something UKIP would like to introduce)?
Ask Peter Stringfellow, it nearly put him out of business.
I forgot... Anyone who thinks the Euro is/was a ridiculous idea from the beginning is a little Englaner/closet racist/Mail Reader/whatever.....
Prety sure we can all feel the love and high regard you and THM have for the Euro project 😕
Leaves thread to the closets racists and loons [ CMD quote - i know neither of you are this at all]
Let's keep to the subject on Cyprus and its wider implications for the euro.
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😉
Anyone who thinks the Euro is/was a ridiculous idea from the beginning is a little Englaner/closet racist/Mail Reader/whatever.....
That's because it's not a ridiculous idea, and if they'd stuck to France/Germany/Benelux it would be much more viable than it is now. What's causing problems is the bending of the rules for political gain to admit countries (eg. Greece) who should never have been allowed to enter monetary union. The undervaluing of the Deutschmark when exchange rates were fixed in the run in to the Euro doesn't help, of course.
Andy
http://rt.com/business/cyprus-deposit-tax-markets-427/
The rate on troubled eurozone nations' bonds is rising. More pain and more problems to come...
...while German two year yields go back (briefly) below 0%. It's an odd day when UK gilts are considered a safe haven too!
An interesting point raised by [url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/17/cyprus-bailout-big-implications-small-rescue ]Larry Elliott[/url] in the Guardian...
[i]But while there was never a doubt that Cyprus would need help from the so-called troika of the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the European Central Bank, the deal announced at the weekend differed in one significant way from the ones that have gone before it: bank deposit holders in Cyprus will have to foot part of the bill themselves.
The reason for this is simple. There is a lot of Russian money in Cyprus, much of it from somewhat dubious sources. With the richer countries of the eurozone suffering from bail-out fatigue, there was resistance – particularly in Germany – to the idea that ordinary European taxpayers should be writing blank cheques to Russian oligarchs who might have been using Cyprus as a money laundering destination.[/i]
we are still talking about folk with £88K savings
Why help these?
88K is not so much - as a lump sum to fund a pension for your whole life it doesn't go very far at today's interest rates.
Cyprus, with a GDP of €17.9bn (end 2012):
- requires assistance estimated to be €17bn - point 1
- has a bank deposit base of €68bn - point 2 (Iceland, Ireland?)
- of which €20bn are held by foreigners - the bulk being Russian - point 3
- has its second largest bank (Laiki) dependent on € aid - point 4
- a potential €30bn bill to cover deposit insurance (if that still existed/exists?) -point 5
In this context, there is only one likely result, and it is not a pretty one. Faced with that and as bad as this proposal seems - the choice of paying 10% to protect the remaining 90% of your deposits starts to look worthy of some consideration? What would you do?
It looks like the domino effect will start again with this tiny tax-less nation.
Euro is ridiculous and EU is free riding ... 😆
In this context, there is only one likely result, and it is not a pretty one. Faced with that and as bad as this proposal seems - the choice of paying 10% to protect the remaining 90% of your deposits starts to look worthy of some consideration? What would you do?
Burn down the houses of some bankers and politicians.
What would you do?
Start over with a new system. The present one doesn't work. It fails. And again. And again. And again. And again.
That may keep you warm but it wont get your money back!
THMS iirc that is one of the risks of lending other peoples money and only keeping about 10% of it in your bank at any one time- the systems has a serious flaw that will occur from time to time
88K is not so much - as a lump sum to fund a pension for your whole life it doesn't go very far at today's interest rates.
First world problem and it is a lot - i rather suspect it puts you in the top 1% of the EU saving league and about 0.01 % globally.
I also doubt that anyone chooses to put their money in the tax haven of a cyprus bank as a safe way to fund their pensions/life savings.
Don't get distracted by the high earners, many ordinary Cypriots with some money in the bank are going to suffer.
Today it is Cyprus. How long before the practice spreads to other eurozone countries, or maybe one day, the UK?
Indeed. I'm sure a lot of Southern European governments are presently watching with interest,thinking "well... if they can pull this off without people rioting in the streets, then....."