http://m.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/16/cyprus-savings-levy-imposed-eurozone
going a long way to make people re-trust banks eh?
think this is why my dad keeps all his money under his pillow
Finally some revenge for Yukos. Serves the russian oligarchs right. Nobody with a cyprus passport actually has money in a bank account. Just wealthy people offshoring.
All you BSDs, take it from me, keep your money in a few different havens.
yeah, the people with less than 100 k must be real thrilled though
actually just reading through a few more articles and it seems to be a bit of a disgrace.
a lot of money is coming out of average people’s retirement funds and so on.
.
Something about this seems very wrong. I’m trying to figure out if maybe I misunderstand the role of deposits in banking or what, but being able to just sudden tax savings seems wrong.
The problem is that Cyprus banks are being used as tax havens by other EU nationals. The EU is going after those tax avoiders by taxing Cyprus deposits. An income tax or austerity in Cyprus would hurt people in Cyprus and not the foreign bank holders.
So, I see a little bit of the rationale behind this… but it’s scary that lawmakers are taking bailout terms to this new level. Capital flight is the obvious reaction. What is going to happen when Italy or Spain need EU funds? What about France? The stability of the Euro Zone is a big cost to pay for the $6 billion that this tax would raise in Cyprus.
It’s not a tax, they get bank equity in return, what do you mean no one asked for it?
Government forcing people to buy shit they didn’t ask for, because outright confiscation is still a (goose)step too far for most.
Fucking Europeans.
what about the locals who have their money deposited in banks?
roadkill?
The real disturbing point in all this is the precedent being set, not the size of Cyprus. It almosts puts them in a corner the next time a country requests funds, you can’t tax the people in one country and not another.
This was such a dumb move. What the Hell were they thinking? They should have just quietly bailed 'em out or let them the fail. F Cyprus, they don’t matter but messing with the trust and faith of the entire banking system is a big deal.
The EU’s new Schleiffen plan is pretty damn incindiary. Picking on smaller less signficant countries while at the same time quietly giving Russia the San Francisco Grinder is a recipe for a big clusterf*ck. If this were the 20th century we’d be at war. Fortunately, it looks like Europeans dont have the balls for this anymore. Phew!
I wonder if this was intended as a policy bluff on the part of Cyprus’ policymakers to cause panic and then hopefully get better terms. Or perhaps get the Russians to pressure the EU to do something to protect their favorite haven.
However, if the idea was “pay 6%/10% or risk a bank run,” then it might be more defensible. The idea is to spread the cost over depositors rather than have them take all or nothing. There are lots of details here that I haven’t fully absorbed yet, such as why there wouldn’t be deposit insurance on smaller accounts that still works.
I do agree that it is a bad thing, though, but it might get people to take the euro crisis more seriously.
he he…people can’t withdraw money till thursday now.
if this was mainland europe we’d be having riots by now
Yeah, EU should just pay them $5 billion. Not sure how many billions of dollars have been wiped from their stock markets thanks to this drama…
Let the next contagion begin… lcokheed will clean up 
I’m really curious how this unfolds. It seems like such an obviously bad idea I really don’t get it.