Cyprus update

REPORT: Major Cyprus Bank Has Only A Few Hours Of Liquidity Left, And Is Limiting Cash Withdrawals

Business Insider,

21 March, 2013

Cyprus Popular Bank has “enough liquidity to cover the next few hours,” reports Bloomberg citing an unnamed government official.

More to come…

REPORT: The EU Is Now Considering A Plan For Cyprus Thought To Be Too Extreme A Week Ago

Business Insider,

21 March, 2013

The Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers is currently holding a conference call on what to do next with regard to the Cyprus bank bailout situation, which is quickly spiraling out of control.

Bloomberg’s Rebecca Christie, Sandrine Rastello, and Boris Groendahl cite unnamed European officials in saying that the Eurogroup is “reviving demands they jettisoned last week as too extreme” in order to move forward.

The Bloomberg reporters say that under the new plan, uninsured depositors – those with account balances in excess of 100,000 euros – will get slammed:

Cyprus Popular Bank Pcl and the Bank of Cyprus Plc would be split to create a so-called bad bank, one of the officials said. Insured deposits — below the European Union ceiling of 100,000 euros ($129,000) — would go into a so-called good bank and not sustain any losses, while uninsured deposits would go into the bad bank and be frozen until assets could be sold, said the four officials.

Losses to unsecured creditors, including uninsured depositors, could reach 40 per cent under the plan, which has support from the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank. The proposal, a version of which was rejected last week, is considered a better option than taxing insured deposits or allowing Cypriot banks to collapse in a disorderly fashion if they lose access to ECB aid, the officials said.

According to another Bloomberg report, Cyprus Popular only has a few hours of liquidity left.