Asian Fever

Cyprus bank account "tax"

huggzy

Banned
May 30, 2010
616
2
0
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2013/03/18/cyprus-bank-deposits-crisis.html


Cyprus bank account tax puts Europe on edge

Officials fear bank run as citizens angered by levy in EU/IMF rescue package

Cyprus's government has postponed a crucial vote on whether to seize almost 10 per cent of the assets of ordinary bank account deposits, a sudden move that the country's president advanced to stave off bankruptcy and receive a bailout from the European Union.

On Friday, President Nicos Anastasiades proposed the surprising plan, which would see lawmakers impose a 6.75 per cent tax on all bank deposits for accounts with under €100,000 in assets. Accounts with more than €100,000 would see a 9.9 per cent tax.

"We're not aiming to gloss over the situation," he said in his first public statement after the EU-IMF meeting in Brussels agreed on the bailout early Saturday. "The solution taken may be painful, but it was the only one" worth taking, he said.

'Germany, France et al came in and said, "We want it, and we are taking it."'—Mark Grant of Southwest Securities

The move could raise as much as €6 billion, and is part of a €10 billion bailout package from the IMF and EU that's designed to get the country out of financial difficulties it fell into when Cypriot banks lost billions on bad investments in Greek banks.

Many parliamentarians, beholden to the voters who elected them, promised to vote against the move and keep bank accounts untouched. There was supposed to be a vote on the matter Monday, but due to the extreme circumstances, it has been postponed until at least Tuesday.

Details of how the levy would be implemented remain sketchy. For instance, it's unclear how joint bank accounts would be calculated.

Monday is a bank holiday in Cyprus. The timing of events was tailored to allow cooler heads to prevail, but predictably, Cypriots spent the weekend withdrawing funds at bank machines throughout the country.
Germany's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble called the levy part of the "fair" distribution of the bailout's burden. (Cathal McNaughton/Reuters)
The move marks the first time that the IMF and the 17 eurozone nations have dipped into people's savings to finance a bailout, a move that analysts worry may roil international markets and jeopardize Europe's fragile economy.

Germany's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble called the levy part of the "fair" distribution of the bailout's burden. "The Cypriot banking sector will be significantly reduced to a sustainable level and business model," he said.

Others weren't as diplomatic in their criticism of the bold plan.

"The European Union and the European Central Bank and the IMF have just advocated the confiscation of private property for their own indulgence," said Mark Grant, managing director of financial firm Southwest Securities Inc.

"Bank accounts are not bonds or stocks or some other form of investments. It is private property like your house or your car. Germany, France et al came in and said, 'We want it, and we are taking it, and it is necessary for our government'," Grant wrote in a commentary on the Cyrpus plan over the weekend.



Maybe I'm paranoid. Maybe I'm extreme. But the money in my chequing/savings account isn't earning any interest. So today I went to withdraw the money in my account as cash (approximately $60k) and the fucking bastards won't give me all my money until Thursday. They were able to give me $5k today, $5k tomorrow, $5k Wednesday, and the balance on Thursday.

I didn't expect to be able to get it all today, but I did expect to be able to get more than $5k today, which is a limitation that I found very alarming to me. This must be part of the capital controls that Harper had implemented after the Financial Crisis. Considering that our economy and market here in North America is perceived as being stable and it is being made difficult to remove MY cash from the bank, it made me shudder to think what panic and rage the Cypriots (depositers who are SAVING money, not blowing it!) must be feeling right now.

If its difficult for me to pull my money out now, just think how difficult it would be if we found ourselves in a full-blown financial crisis.

Nothing might happen to the banks here, but somehow I just don't feel like its as secure as it once was, and I don't feel like giving the banksters free money anymore just so that they can continue to rape and pillage the masses. I'll find a better and more secure place to put my assets.
 

lenny

girls just wanna have fu
May 20, 2004
4,116
74
48
your GF's panties
If you keep the 60K in cash with your condom stash, you won't have to pay bank SCs.

Will the insurance company reimburse you in case of fire or theft?
 

storm rider

Banned
Dec 6, 2008
2,545
6
0
Calgary
Those poor Russian Crooks, where are they going to put their money now
This "bank tax" affects a lot more people who are laundering money than it does people who have dilligently saved over a long period of time.For the latter though it is a haircut to say the least.

To the OP who tried to withdraw 60 grand from the bank.....if you are not getting any interest that is appreciable on that 60 grand then why did you have it in the bank?...a far better place would have been
a nice strong/fireproof safe that is either cemented into the foundation of your home or at the very least
firmly attached to the foundation via 1/2 inch steel brackets that have been welded to the safe and then
anchor bolted to the cement and then had the capscrews rounded off with a grinding tool so as to make
quick removal an unviable plan :doh:

SR
 

visiting

Active member
Oct 23, 2005
1,000
1
38
right behind you!
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2013/03/18/cyprus-bank-deposits-crisis.html



Maybe I'm paranoid. Maybe I'm extreme. But the money in my chequing/savings account isn't earning any interest. So today I went to withdraw the money in my account as cash (approximately $60k) and the fucking bastards won't give me all my money until Thursday. They were able to give me $5k today, $5k tomorrow, $5k Wednesday, and the balance on Thursday.

I didn't
Banks in Canada (if they have a federal charter) are forced to keep 5% of deposits in Cash, so if you want to take out large sums of money you need to plan for it. Not that 5k is large sums of money, but you have to remember banks don't get delivery of cash every day so they have to keep some for others.... If you would have asked for all your cash today you would have received it all on Thursday...
 

vancity_cowboy

hard riding member
Jan 27, 2008
5,499
7
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on yer ignore list
So today I went to withdraw the money in my account as cash (approximately $60k) and the fucking bastards won't give me all my money until Thursday.
your name isn't hugski is it? :)
 

badbadboy

Well-known member
Nov 2, 2006
9,576
277
83
In Lust Mostly
This "bank tax" affects a lot more people who are laundering money than it does people who have dilligently saved over a long period of time.For the latter though it is a haircut to say the least.

To the OP who tried to withdraw 60 grand from the bank.....if you are not getting any interest that is appreciable on that 60 grand then why did you have it in the bank?...a far better place would have been
a nice strong/fireproof safe that is either cemented into the foundation of your home or at the very least
firmly attached to the foundation via 1/2 inch steel brackets that have been welded to the safe and then
anchor bolted to the cement and then had the capscrews rounded off with a grinding tool so as to make
quick removal an unviable plan :doh:

SR
good plan and also make it difficult for anyone to find it and also remove all the heavy shit that you place on top of it..

I have heard of such a safe that actually has about four inches of concrete on top of it. Guy is heavy into armageddon and all of its after effects.

If you want it to be your money, buy a safe and keep it in there.

Deposit savings are not much different than any other form of investment: you give someone your cash in return for a promise that they will probably give it back along with some interest. While on deposit, it is their cash to do with as they wish within the limits (give or take) of the laws governing financial institutions.

You pays your money & takes your chances as with all other investments.
Yes and have gold, USD and C$ stashed in it too. Make sure the gold is in denominations that are easily liquified i.e. Canadian coins or 1/4 oz bars.

Banks in Canada (if they have a federal charter) are forced to keep 5% of deposits in Cash, so if you want to take out large sums of money you need to plan for it. Not that 5k is large sums of money, but you have to remember banks don't get delivery of cash every day so they have to keep some for others.... If you would have asked for all your cash today you would have received it all on Thursday...
If you order large denominations, you can pick it up at any branch with three days notice if you want it. They can have $10k available in 24 hours if its booked early in the AM. Naturally they are concerned about security and also the laundering aspect because they have to report large transactions (anything over $9999.00) to the authorities.
 

huggzy

Banned
May 30, 2010
616
2
0
Those poor Russian Crooks, where are they going to put their money now
The same can be said about Canada and Chinese money.

I think the point I was making was the alarming concept that the IMF and EU, controlled by a foreign state (Germany), can influence a sovereign government to freeze bank accounts and seize moneies owned by their citizens because of a debt payment/bailout plan
 

huggzy

Banned
May 30, 2010
616
2
0
If you keep the 60K in cash with your condom stash, you won't have to pay bank SCs.

Will the insurance company reimburse you in case of fire or theft?
I think there's a lower probability of fire and theft than of a bank failure or financial crisis of some sort.

I don't plan on keeping my assets as cash, but I thought it would be an interesting exercise to see how quickly I could take it out if I needed to.
 

huggzy

Banned
May 30, 2010
616
2
0
This "bank tax" affects a lot more people who are laundering money than it does people who have dilligently saved over a long period of time.For the latter though it is a haircut to say the least.

To the OP who tried to withdraw 60 grand from the bank.....if you are not getting any interest that is appreciable on that 60 grand then why did you have it in the bank?...a far better place would have been
a nice strong/fireproof safe that is either cemented into the foundation of your home or at the very least
firmly attached to the foundation via 1/2 inch steel brackets that have been welded to the safe and then
anchor bolted to the cement and then had the capscrews rounded off with a grinding tool so as to make
quick removal an unviable plan :doh:

SR
I do understand that it is known that a lot of ill-gotten Russian money may be in its economy, but I find it hard to believe that the majority of deposits in any country, no matter how corrupt, would be laundered money and that the deposits from the local populace could be considered negligible. If that were the case then Cyprus is in far bigger trouble than anybody thinks (not that it isn't already considered dire there).

As far as what I'm going to do with my savings I'm not sure yet. There seems to be so much turmoil and volatility bubbling under the surface of every investment option out there that everything seems to be a gamble right now. I know you mentioned the safe and its probably tongue in cheek, but I'm not so sure that just putting in a safe and locking it up isn't a terribly horrible idea at all to tell you the truth.
 

huggzy

Banned
May 30, 2010
616
2
0
If you want it to be your money, buy a safe and keep it in there.

Deposit savings are not much different than any other form of investment: you give someone your cash in return for a promise that they will probably give it back along with some interest. While on deposit, it is their cash to do with as they wish within the limits (give or take) of the laws governing financial institutions.

You pays your money & takes your chances as with all other investments.
Yes, I know. That was what I was getting at, however I think in the past our cash was more readily accessible than it is now. Its not like $10 or $20 k is more than a drop in the bucket for any branch in the lower mainland, and the idea that they couldn't provide more than $5k on initial request I found quite disconcerting.

You can walk into any lower mainland casino and find countless patrons carrying more than twice that in their purses or wallets.
 

huggzy

Banned
May 30, 2010
616
2
0
Banks in Canada (if they have a federal charter) are forced to keep 5% of deposits in Cash, so if you want to take out large sums of money you need to plan for it. Not that 5k is large sums of money, but you have to remember banks don't get delivery of cash every day so they have to keep some for others.... If you would have asked for all your cash today you would have received it all on Thursday...
Yeah, it wasn't that I wasn't expecting to get it all today. I knew I wouldn't. But to only be allowed $5k today was a bit upsetting.
 

huggzy

Banned
May 30, 2010
616
2
0
Cyprus rescue breaks all the rules

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21827922

Reform of how to mend broken banks, which has been negotiated globally and in Europe since the Crash of 2007-8, has been based on two central principles.

First, that the savings of ordinary people should be protected, up to a high threshold - or 100,000 euros in the European Union for example.

And that financial institutions which lend to banks by buying their bonds should incur losses when banks are bailed out: bondholders should, to use the jargon, be bailed in, as part of resolution plans.

The logic behind these tenets is simple: financial institutions ought to be sophisticated enough and informed enough to assess the risks of lending to a bank, and therefore deserve to be punished when their judgement is awry; most of the rest of us can't possibly know if our high street banks are making reckless gambles.

The hope is that the kind of big investors which buy bonds would put pressure on banks to stick to the straight and narrow. And that retail savers are so confident that their money is safe that they never feel the urge to behave like the customers of Northern Rock in September 2007 by descending in a mob on branches and withdrawing every last cent.

So what is seen by many as profoundly shocking about the terms of the rescue of Cyprus by the rest of the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund is that both of these principles have been broken.

Retail savers are being punished, by a levy of 6.75% on savings up to 100,000 euros.

And bondholders aren't being touched.

How did this happen? Well as I mentioned on Saturday the German government was determined that the Cypriot rescue should not be seen by German taxpayers as in effect rescuing Russian money launderers with deposits in Cyprus.

But a deal that might just be approved by the German parliament has resulted in serious collateral damage to the credibility of policymakers in the eurozone and the IMF.

The Cypriot deal sets back the cause of the new global rules for bringing order to banking systems when crisis hits. Apart from anything else, in other eurozone countries where banks are weak, it licenses runs on those banks, as and when a bailout looms.
 

sevenofnine

Active member
Nov 21, 2008
2,018
8
38
Some wierd shit going down.


Will a condom hold 80 k in cash? Not mine anyway.
Lucky sp that gets that condom.

Is there going to be a drain on the banks in Europe I wonder.
 

Big Dog Striker

New member
Nov 17, 2007
1,537
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This small island of Cyprus with a population of about a million becomes a wealth tax guinea pig by the IMF as civil strife can be contained before the template is eventually applied on to bigger populations like Greece, Portugal, or Spain in the future. :nod:
 

Big Dog Striker

New member
Nov 17, 2007
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Even if Cyprus gets a bailout, I don't think they'll be able to have enough revenues to stay afloat unless they hit oil somewhere. :faint:

Its populace are paying the price for its banks bad investments. Risk is proportional to return. :nod:
 

huggzy

Banned
May 30, 2010
616
2
0
"It was not clear what version of the levy would eventually be voted on in Cyprus. The government maintains Cyprus has no choice but to accept the bailout with the levy, or go bankrupt.

While Brussels has emphasised that the measure is a one-off for a country that accounts for just 0.2 percent of European output, fears have grown that savers in other, larger European countries will be spurred to withdraw funds.

"If you're a small depositor in Cyprus you'll tell yourself that it would have been better to keep your money under the carpet than in a bank," said a French bank executive who declined to be named.

"And if you're a Greek, a Spaniard or an Italian, well, you'll tell yourself that you might be next.""


The damage has already been done. Surely the Cyprus banking system is going to collapse.

The Cyprus government must be having some intense debate going on right now because now the cat has been let out of the bag. They are now likely arguing amongst themselves that if they don't pass this tax, their banking system is going to collapse anyways because investor confidence is now shattered and EVERYONE is going to withdraw their deposits (seriously...would you leave your money in there now if you were them???). Seeing as this is the case, their parliamentarians might just convince themselves that imposing this tax may be their only option. If they don't take this money now while they have their greedy, piggish little hands on it they will now have no other option but to go bankrupt.

If they do go through with this tax then repercussions will be felt throughout Europe (and the rest of the world), and if they go bankrupt and have to withdraw from the EU this will also have a damaging effect.
 

Big Dog Striker

New member
Nov 17, 2007
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There are some offshore hideaways that are doing good though like Malta. :nod: Like in poker, I think the banks in Cyprus went ALL IN. :doh:
 
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