Could This Be Coming To A Bank Near You?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2294388/ATMs-emptied-Cyprus-savers-learn-10billion-euro-bailout-agreement-includes-levy-bank-accounts.html

Could other EU countries follow this idea ?

[mrs_overall]

It won't affect me - I am skint

[factor-fiction]

I can't see why they would. Greece is in an extreme situation

[boxtops]

I don't think so. Greece is in a far worse position than the UK.

[IggyB]

This sounds like a recipe to create a run on the banks, Cyprus first, followed by Greece, Spain etc. until it cascades across Europe. I don't think it would be too far fetched to imagine people in the UK starting to lose (even more) confidence in the banking system and following suit.

[Old_Geezer]

lose (even more) confidence... no, does not compute. Surely that implies we have some to lose ? We use banks as we have no real choice, but then we just keep our fingers crossed hoping they don't lose our money before we've left this mortal plane.

[anotheoldgit]

Isn't this about Cyprus and not Greece?

[IggyB]

True enough Old_Geezer - if I was in the enviable position of having significant savings I might be considering investing in some gold or something that could be locked away in a safety deposit box somewhere... then again if the banking system does fail then this would presumably lose its value as well.

We do seem to be caught in a the jaws of a very slow moving bear trap but don't have any means to get out the way before it finally snaps shut.

[DangerUXD]

This is what happens when you create an artificial currency based on political shoe hornery rather than any sort of financial structuring. I'm not against a common currency if it's done properly I am against the Euro becuase it's a half ar5ed attempt by putting the cart before the horse.

[factor-fiction]

Yes, you are right, AOG: this is the result of measures flowing from the EU bail out of Cyprus rather than the Greek bailout. However, there is a strong link as the banks in Cyprus held a significant amount of Greek debt and suffered huge losses when the bonds were written down as part of the Greek bailout.

[emmie]

Cyprus and not Greece, and if it happens here, suggest we take up our pitchforks and defend ourselves, i would not let these people have their filthy mits on any money i have however small it might be.

[emmie]

also discussed earlier, interesting points raised...

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/News/Question1225528.html

[bazwillrun]

"This tax is nothing less than legalised THEFT. At the insistence of the IMF, Brussels has demanded this tax be enforced by the Cypriot Government in order to receive the bail out funds. Any government can tax its citizens directly but not the EU. The EU are guilty of obtaining money illegally by proxy. Yet another example of the pernicious doctrines emanating from the EU sewer

[jake-the-peg]

Sorry Baz - what has this to do EU?

Isn't this the Cyprus Government's decision in terms of repaying the EU bail-out?

Of course some might say if the Banks were allowed to go bust people would lose everything - I guess you can look on it in different ways.


What I don't understand is why it wasn't done immediately - giving everybody until Tuesday seems a guaranteed way to create chaos

[woolleysheep]

Is it just another way of devaluing currency

[bazwillrun]

@JTP

"Sorry Baz - what has this to do EU?

"Isn't this the Cyprus Government's decision in terms of repaying the EU bail-out? "

are you for real, its the frigging eussr that are making the cypriot government levy this tax as part of the bail out deal.

The cypriot government is just a puppet body, the country is run by the eussr , in the same way, they will, if not stopped control the UK

[jake-the-peg]

The Cypriot Government agreed this as part of their bail out agreement

They weren't forced to take this money - they could have negotiated other ways of meeting the conditions

Or they could have left the Euro - If that had happened all money in Cypriot banks would have been immediately converted and the currency to go into free fall (er found its level) in which case people with money in Cyprus banks would have lost a lot more than 10%!

[New Judge]

I usually give a little leeway on matters EU, especially when there is confusion between the EU, the European Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Justice. However on this occasion, Jake, no such quarter can be given.

Yes it is very true that this is a decision of the Cypriot government and that other options might be available to them. BUT, if Cyprus was not a member of the EU (or even better if the EU did not exist) Cyprus would not have been using the euro for the last five years. It would have carried on using the Cypriot Pound (which had been tied to within 15% of an fixed euro exchange rate for three years before changeover). The exchange rate at changeover overvalued the Cypriot pound and they were locked into an exchange rate that was hopelessly wrong for the economy. Moving on, Greece would not have been encouraged to borrow billions of euros which it had no chance of repaying and Cyprus would not have been so exposed to this toxic Greek debt in a currency neither country could afford to use

But now comes the big bang and Cypriots must see a sudden 10% drop in their cash holdings. This is a direct result of Cyprus’s membership of the EU and more importantly their adoption of the euro, a bad decision compounded by use of an inappropriate conversion rate. The end result (the effective devaluation of the Cypriot currency) would not have been necessary had it not joined to euro at an overvalued rate five years ago. The euro is not suitable for the peripheral nations and this has been adequately demonstrated yet again. All the Europhiles who keep insisting that the euro’s problems are over are deluded. They are deceiving European citizens, they are causing untold harm and it will not end until the euro in its current form is ditched.

[Orderlimit]

The Euro has just had one hell of a pasting on the opening of the retail financial markets.

[DJHawkes]

what i don't understand is why the banks are letting the government take the money, surely they have let people invest with them based on certain terms and conditions, how big a change to those terms and conditions can they be allowed to make?

[Gromit]

The Cyprus banks needs a bailout because they invested their money unwisely, not because they are in the Euro or because they are in the EU.

If they were using pounds and a non EU member, they would still be deep in deep smelly stuff.

The Cypriot banks were awash with cash, mainly Russian mafia money. They invested too much in Greek Government bond which were then devalued. A mistake any greedy, stupid, shortsighted dimwit could make, and the Cypriot bankers made it.