Raid on bank accounts in Cyprus

[MrsJREwing]

Nearly 10% of savings will be taxed from private individuals savings, to save the banks.

It's the extreme conclusion of 'wealth tax'. Anyone with a 'mansion' take note.

We are not Greece/Cyprus, you're being comically alarmist.

How is it alarmist, when it is about to happen? No one is making the story up

Crikey, is there a link to this?

Who will it effect, just the Greek Cypriots or everyone with a Cypriot bank account?

When you go over there with the military you have to open a local bank account for your wages to be paid into - and trying to transfer the remains back to your UK bank account when you leave costs too (hence I came home with £3k cash in Euros rather than transfer the money to Barclays).

Is there an earning/saving limit?

I find it alarming that this could be legal, although I understand it is still to be ratified by the coalition government? It's for all bank accounts not only large balances and I feel very sorry for all savers.

lteve it's a leading story in the national newspapers. Affects all with accounts in Cyprus

Lt Eve, I think it for everyone regardless of nationality and the rate for accounts with less than 10,000 Euros is 6.75%.

Bloody Hell DM Link

(Sorry for the DM link, I'm not a FT subscriber and it was the first one I found)

It seems its everybody being affected. That's awful

NY Times

Accounts held in the British subsidiaries of Cypriot banks would not be affected as they are covered by the FSA (Sky News). Would the servicemen or expats normally have these sort of accounts?

I'm impressed that the DM actually used the word 'decimated' in its correct context.

If Cyprus can get away with doing this then which country will be next ?

Sorry, that should have been bank accounts under 100,000 Euros will be taxed at 6.75%

For me this is a very good illustration of why we need to tackle our debts/deficit now rather than stick our heads in the sand and carry on spending.

It's very interesting though that the BBC is reporting that the reason for this tax is partly because it is suspected that a lot of money held in Cyprus is laundered money. And as such the German's were baulking at the idea of throwing taxpayers money to save laundered cash. So the levy is the only way any rescue package was going to get through. The fact innocent savers end up suffering is simply a price worth paying. source

It will be very interesting to see how the markets react tomorrow morning. Shades of Argentina?

For anyone thinking "it couldn't happen to me", I guess the Cypriots didn't think so either until a law was passed under their noses on a bank hol weekend.

Very unfair that this affects the savers and not the bond holders.

Privatise the profits, socialise the losses. Again.

I'm in the euro zone and wondering if I should empty my account today simply fro a bank run perspective.

A spokesman for the Cypriot government said yesterday the agreement with Brussels was ?serious but not tragic? and said that the EU had wanted a much higher levy but the government had fought hard against it.

That is what the elites think of the people

Tory MP Douglas Carswell added: ?We should all be extremely worried about this. It shows that ordinary Europeans are being fleeced by the Continent?s elite in order to rescue foolish banks

That really will empty the banks. Unbelievable!

Offline, when we are posted to Cyprus we get 6 weeks to open a Cypriot Bank Account, usually either with Hellenic or Laiki. It's a current account for your daily wages etc. you can still keep an allotment to a British Bank for savings - but of course if you use them you get charged.

On further reading it seems that it is 'savings' accounts rather than current accounts, so most soldiers I know keep their savings in UK and won't be affected.

It's the expats I feel sorry for. Lots of them have substantial savings and live off the interest. They sell up in UK and buy a smaller property in Cyp, so live off their savings. They will lose thousands it seems.

The Russians will be going spare. There are a huge number of Russian Multi Millionaires in Cyprus - and a lot of their money comes from more nefarious means. Maybe this is why the government are doing this - but penalising the 'normal' savers at the same time.

The Cypriot parliament vote has been postponed until tomorrow, according to SKY.

It seems to be affecting all deposits in all sorts of bank accounts. So even if there maybe recourse via FSA eventually, it could be a cash-flow wrecking event.

There was something on the news yesterday about accounts being inaccessible, so if you haven't already moved money off the island, it may already be too late.

Of course, it will not be possible to transfer these accounts outside Cyprus without first paying the 10% tax. If they don't close that door, there will be no money left in any Cyprus account by tomorrow afternoon.

'Banks have already acted to seal off the amount of the levy - a 6.75 per cent tax on deposits under 100,000 euro and 9.9 per cent on those above - so depositors can't access it.'

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

Restrictions have been imposed to stop people emptying their accounts or moving their money out of the country following the
deal with other eurozone finance ministers, under which ordinary citizens? deposits will be directly raided for the first time.

Clearly the elite knew the fear that this would create, but it seems they wanted to send a message.

'the EU had wanted a much higher levy'

and they wanted the message to be even louder

Military seem to be ok then.