By SARAH DiLORENZO, Associated Press
PARIS (AP) — Lawmakers in Cyprus are still scrambling for a way to raise €5.8 billion ($7.5 billion) to help pay for an international bailout of the country's banks and government.
A plan to seize up to 10 percent of people's savings has been met with fury and it has raised concern, if not panic, in the rest of Europe about the security of bank deposits in times of financial turmoil.
On Tuesday, Cypriot lawmakers are scheduled to vote on a revised plan that would not be so burdensome for people with less than €100,000 in the bank. Any plan must be approved by the other eurozone countries, which would then commit €10 billion in rescue loans to Cyprus.
Banks in Cyprus will remain shut until Thursday to give political leaders time to hash out a deal.
Here's a look at the plan and the problems it may pose.
HEY, HOW CAN THEY DO THAT?
Cyprus can raise or lower taxes whenever it wants. It wouldn't be the first time that a eurozone nation has raised taxes to cope with mounting debt and to prop up struggling banks. Residents of Greece, Portugal and Ireland — all bailout recipients — have seen their tax bills skyrocket in recent years as those countries tried to reduce their debts. But Cyprus is charting new ground here. As a member of the euro currency, Cyprus offers insurance on deposits up to €100,000 ($129,000) in cases of bank failures; some feel that by seizing money from insured deposits, the country had effectively reneged on that promise.
AND HOW EXACTLY WILL IT WORK?
Banks have already acted to seal off a 6.75 percent tax on deposits under €100,000 and 9.9 percent on those above, so depositors can't access the money. Banks will remain closed until Thursday to avoid a rush of withdrawals. Lawmakers will vote on Tuesday, but some are opposed to the plan or seeking modifications. The government has offered a revised plan that would leave savings up to €20,000 untouched. The government's critics, including the central bank, say that is not enough and that deposits up to €100,000 should be exempt. However the seizures are spread, the overall scheme has to raise a total of about €5.8 billion.
HAS THIS EVER HAPPENED BEFORE?
So far in the euro crisis, depositors have been protected. But European countries have taxed bank deposits before. In the 1990s, Italy taxed every bank account to stave off the collapse of its lire currency. The rate, however, was miniscule — 0.06 percent — compared to what Cyprus is enacting. Iceland — another island with an outsized financial sector, although worse weather — also relied on depositors to prop up its banks. When the crisis hit there in 2008, Iceland protected its domestic deposits but reneged on deposit insurance for overseas, Internet-based accounts held by British and Dutch. Those two governments stepped in to help their citizens to the tune of $5 billion. The U.K. and the Netherlands sued Iceland unsuccessfully in a European court to get their money back, but Iceland has nevertheless started to repay some of that money.
European officials are promising that Cyprus is a unique case, and they are right in one aspect: Cypriot banks are overwhelmingly funded by deposits, not bondholders. So it wouldn't have been very fruitful to go after bondholders.
WHO IS AFFECTED?
All people with money in Cypriot banks — except those with money in Greek branches, which will be sold to Greek banks. EU and IMF creditors clearly wanted to protect struggling Greece, but perhaps also saw that Greece is the most likely place in the eurozone for a bank run. Protecting depositors there minimizes that possibility. Of the more than €68 billion on deposit in Cypriot banks, foreigners hold about 40 percent — and most of those are Russians. Cyprus could have only gone after non-EU depositors, but it may have been hard to distinguish between Cypriot and Russian savers, said Jacob Kirkegaard, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. That is because many Russians have dual citizenship and many Russian businesses are registered on the island.
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