Cyprus steals 10% of all depositors money, trigger bank runs.

[Denny]

Yep, I'm familiar with the banking system. I'm not disagreeing with you that separating the two is probably a good idea - I just don't see how it applies to the Cyprus situation. I've kept up with it this week and I haven't seen anything that tells me it had anything to do with it.




I think it could get ugly. Interesting times for sure - we held off on a substantial allocation shift this week b/c we're waiting to see how this unfolds. The ^vix has been remarkably low lately as well. At least I could use a ^vix pop to clean up in my PA, but yeah, potentially very scary IMO.



I think you're correct - at least as we know it. What happens when you throw together 17 countries with different cultures, languages, and fiscal policies into a single monetary system? ... here you have it.

Why is it that overall, things are calm? Are we just numb to talks of financial collapse anymore?

All the damage has been done in the EU. I'm not sure what will be their next solution. Germany acts like they're pissed, but we all know they are loving the fact of their neighbors coming to them on their hands and knees.

Merkel > Hitler

[slow99]

Why is it that overall, things are calm? Are we just numb to talks of financial collapse anymore?

All the damage has been done in the EU. I'm not sure what will be their next solution. Germany acts like they're pissed, but we all know they are loving the fact of their neighbors coming to them on their hands and knees.

Merkel > Hitler

The risk here is contagion - my guess is that the markets think contagion possibilities are low. Italian and Spanish banks have remained open.

As I posted earlier, I think a huge part of this is political on Merkel's part. Elections are pending, the Germans are sick of bailing out the whole Eurozone. They damned sure don't want to bail out Russian mobsters.

Regardless, make no mistake that Germany benefits vastly by the Euro ... they're a huge net exporter. God knows how much more valuable the Deutsche Mark would be on a stand-alone basis compared to the pos Euro.

[Denny]

I'm waiting to see if Russia goes to China for assistance. I bet they try that before Germany.

[line-em-up]

The house of cards keeps getting taller and taller. It won't be long now before it all comes down.

[Forever_frost]

I'm betting that everyone who proposed that "tax the high balance depositors" idea will be visited by a couple gentlemen named Ivan who would like to talk with them

[FreightTrain]

The Euro is finished

Fuck em. Great for the U.S. Dollar

[Forever_frost]

Looks like they're upping the theft.

A senior Cypriot official said Nicosia had agreed with its lenders on a 20 percent levy over and above 100,000 euros at the island's largest lender, Bank of Cyprus, and four percent on deposits above that level at other troubled banks.

'ONLY HARD CHOICES LEFT'

Finance Minister Michael Sarris spoke of "significant progress" in talks on Saturday, as angry demonstrators outside the finance ministry chanted "resign, resign!".

In a stunning vote on Tuesday, Cyprus's 56-seat parliament rejected a levy on depositors, big and small, and Sarris spent three fruitless days in Moscow trying to win help from Russia, whose citizens have billions of euros at stake in Cypriot banks.

Rebuffed by the Kremlin, Sarris said the levy was back "on the table".

On Friday, lawmakers voted in late-night session to nationalize pension funds and split failing lenders into good and bad banks - a measure likely to be applied to the second-biggest lender, the largely state-owned Cyprus Popular Bank, also known as Laiki.

Cypriot media reports suggested talks were stuck on a demand by the IMF that Bank of Cyprus absorb the good assets of Popular Bank and take on its nine billion euros debt to the central bank as well. The reports said the Cypriot government was resisting.

A Cypriot plan to tap pension funds had already been shelved, a senior Cypriot official told Reuters, under opposition from Germany, which had warned the measure might be even more painful for ordinary Cypriots than a deposit levy.

It was also far from certain that a majority of lawmakers would back a revised levy, or whether the government might even try to bypass the assembly.

Ordinary Cypriots have been outraged by the levy and stunned at the pace of the unfolding drama. They elected Anastasiades in February on a mandate to secure a bailout and save banks whose capital was wiped out by investments in Greece, the epicenter of the euro zone debt crisis.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/24/us-cyprus-parliament-idUSBRE92G03I20130324

[racrguy]

What the fuck!? Oh jess. I'd be building a killdozer.

[Denny]

Those banks are done as soon as they open.

[Forever_frost]

Just think about this: You get paid, it goes into the bank on Friday. Saturday morning you get told on Facebook that the banks are closing and you can't get your money. You call BS and then go down there. You can withdraw some, but not much and then you get told they're taking 20% of what you have in the bank to bail out another country.

How is that country not burning?

[Vertnut]

Some of this looks like a rift between the Russians and the Germans. Since the Germans "insure" the Euro, they see it as them insuring $30 billion in Russian euro's with no return or benefit. It wasn't that long ago that half of Germany was "occupied" by the likes of Putin, and I think they see it as payback time.

[slow99]

Just think about this: You get paid, it goes into the bank on Friday. Saturday morning you get told on Facebook that the banks are closing and you can't get your money. You call BS and then go down there. You can withdraw some, but not much and then you get told they're taking 20% of what you have in the bank to bail out another country.

How is that country not burning?

Sounds like the person is a citizen of Cyprus in your example?

[Denny]

Just think about this: You get paid, it goes into the bank on Friday. Saturday morning you get told on Facebook that the banks are closing and you can't get your money. You call BS and then go down there. You can withdraw some, but not much and then you get told they're taking 20% of what you have in the bank to bail out another country.

How is that country not burning?

Maybe people that live on a little island respect their community enough not to destroy it with riots. Every square foot is valued in a place like that. Civility still lives today in some areas.

I bet they just burn the politicians homes (with the FD on standby so it doesn't spread).

[Denny]

Some of this looks like a rift between the Russians and the Germans. Since the Germans "insure" the Euro, they see it as them insuring $30 billion in Russian euro's with no return or benefit. It wasn't that long ago that half of Germany was "occupied" by the likes of Putin, and I think they see it as payback time.

Germany is doing it right this time.

[Forever_frost]

Maybe people that live on a little island respect their community enough not to destroy it with riots. Every square foot is valued in a place like that. Civility still lives today in some areas.

I bet they just burn the politicians homes (with the FD on standby so it doesn't spread).

You can respect your community while venting your frustration on those who put you in that position. Especially if the banks are closed and refuse to give you your money. Bulldozer through the wall of the banks is a good start and since the police and fire aren't getting their money either, I'm betting you won't be stopped