Monday is a holiday in Cypress, but not all of Europe. In a plan negotiated by the President of Cypress with EU finance ministers:
- all Cyprus bank accounts with < 100K EUR will have 6.75% taken
- bank accounts with > 100K EUR will have 9.99% taken
- these amounts were frozen in all accounts over the weekend, while the banks were closed
- the bank holiday has now been extended to Thursday because of fears of bank runs, and
- the Cyprus parliament wants the deal modified, which requires EU approval
Some are saying that the alternative was for Cypress to leave the Euro, which would have forced a 50-60% currency devaluation. But who says that won't happen down the road anyway? How many times has Greece been "bailed out for the last time" and the EU's debt crisis been "under control now"?
Bank confiscations coming to a bank near you...
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-18/worst-case-big-depositors-cyprus-1526-haircut