Should We Be Sorry For Cyprus Savers?

[modeller]

Cyprus has offered very high rates of interest to all savers for years from 5% to 12.5% , compare that to the 0.1 to 1% available elsewhere in Europe.
In addition no questions were asked where the money came from, so criminals and the rich were able to avoid paying tax on their wealth and also earn high rates of interest on their savings.

Should we be sorry for all or some Cyprus savers now that they may have to give some of this money back.

[jake-the-peg]

You do know that one of the key features of Cyprus banks is that they essentially allowed 'anonymous' bank accounts.

You can establish an account and not have to divulge where the money's come from

Yes there are small account holders but tell me why you'd want to keep hundreds of thousands of Euros in such an account

[Zacs-Master]

The word 'may' is key here. Nothing has been decided yet so I can't really be bothered speculating whether I would be sorry for them or not until the event happens. If it indeed does.

[chrissa1]

Is it just the Greek part of Cyprus that is involved? What about the Turkish part?

[emmie]

i certainly feel sorry for some of the people, perhaps not the rich oligarchs who have stashed away millions, but the ordinary man and woman has come in for some very unsettled times.

[Sqad]

Jake

\\\Yes there are small account holders but tell me why you'd want to keep hundreds of thousands of Euros in such an account \\\

Quite simply for the high rate of interest compared to other banks.
Yes it is a risk, but if one cannot deposit one's savings into a bank, then where else would you suggest?

Yes 4-10% interest was suspicious, but if you were a Cypriot then a Cyprus Bank would have been the obvious choice.

Yes......i am sorry for the Cypriot saver as i would be for any saver that had his savings "clipped."

Oh! and by the way I didn't hear cries of disgust and wringing of hands when Gordon Brown creamed the top of my savings in Private pension to ring fence the pensions of the public sector workers................

[emmie]

ah Gordon Brown, the saviour of Europe,
sqad, the less said about him the better i think.

[Sqad]

em...no! no! he was the saviour of the "World."

[emmie]

apologies, of course, saviour of the world, all the while it was going to hell in a handcart.

[ichkeria]

The point is that a huge amount of the money in Cypriot banks is of highly dubious origin. That of course is not the fault of the ordinary saver who surely must be pitied. But in a sense what this plan was attempting to do was fast-forward the slow erosion of value in savings experienced elsewhere in other countries.
So everyone is being penalised for the crimes of the big account holders, as well as of course leaving the banks open to catastrophe.

I note the Russian bailout never materialised. Surprise surprise :-)

[emmie]

so what would happen if the Russians to a man decided to pull the plug and take all their ill gotten gains with them

[Sqad]

em...that will not happen.....the Cypriot Government will order the banks to cap withdrawals.

[emmie]

if these Russians have enormous capital, that often goes with influence, who is to tell them they will have to pay up, or indeed not be able to take their own money when they want to.

[Sqad]

em......the banks will tell them.....and the Government will tell the banks.

I think that it is a bit too late in Cyprus for "influence."

[anotheoldgit]

I wonder who would help us out if we got in such a mess?

"Wait a minute though".

[emmie]

not so much the Cypriots, but certainly those with enough money to tell them to get stuffed... We shall see, i can't see this working out well at all.

[emmie]

no one would as you well know.

[sandyRoe]

Were Cupriot savers really being offered 5%+ ?

[sandyRoe]

Cypriot* ^

[emmie]

not sure, tried to find it in this article

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9949686/Cyprus-savers-face-draconian-measures-in-bid-to-avoid-nations-exit-from-eurozone.html

[jake-the-peg]

And what do they say Sqad about a deal that's too good to be true?

And as for Gordon Brown you might like to remember that he had the
nerve to bail out Northern rock and the other banks.

If he hadn't done that then their depositors would have lost everything

That's kind of Tory philosophy isn't it? Let the market decide

Is that what you'd like to see in Cyprus?

The Market deciding whether the banks can continue?

No state interference?

How much will the depositors lose then? 50%? 75%? the lot?


The criticisms seem rather like a drowning man whining that the lifeline he's been thrown was too late to stop his Versache suit from being ruined.

The EU is not responsible for Cyprus' financial problems - I know you'd love it to be true but it's not.

They made far too many bad loans to Greece and it doesn't matter if that's Euros, Pounds or Dollars