Cyprus would seek EU bailout money 'if necessary

[BoyRacer]

Cyprus would seek EU bailout money 'if necessary -> bbc.co.uk/news/business-18318252

‘Chaotic situation’

The Cypriot financial system has an exposure to Greece estimated at 23bn euros, compared with the size of the Cypriot economy of around 17.3bn euros.

Mr Christofias said officials are looking at contingency planning to “deal with a chaotic situation” if Greece leaves the eurozone.

“It is something I hope will never happen,” he said.

Last year Cyprus, who credit status has been downgraded to junk by two of the three main ratings agencies, borrowed 2.5bn euros from Russia.

there is more

[JohnnyTheFox]

Laiki Bank is Cyprus’ Anglo with 49% of it’s loan book written to Greece. But it’s even worse because Laiki is one of the top two retail banks in the country, not a second tier player like Anglo was here.

[fungus]

The deadline for the Cypriot bank bailout/recap is 30 June 2012. Cyprus would prefer that the bailout money comes from Russia rather than from the IMF/Europe.

Highly informative article in the FT on the situation in Cyprus …

ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/48b1de4a … z1wkBomcg0

Stelios Platis, a prominent Cypriot economist, is very clear about his country’s place in the crisis that is spiralling outwards from Greece. “We are next in line,” he says.

As the country scrambles to find billions of euros to secure its banking system and underpin its economy, Cypriots express a similar sense of foreboding.

[fungus]

AP: Cyprus Popular Bank: Cyprus Will seek ‘EU’ Bailout

businessweek.com/ap/2012-06/D9V90AM80.htm

Cyprus will have to seek bailout funds from the European Union in order to recapitalize a banking sector pummeled by exposure to Greek debt, and it must prepare itself by taking tough steps to shore up its finances, the chairman of the country’s second-largest lender said Friday.

The comments by Cyprus Popular Bank’s Michalis Sarris further bolster a growing sense that the island will be the next in line to ask for help from the European Financial Stability Facility. Other top Cypriot officials also have recently left open the door to a bailout.

Taking firm action now – including even jacking up the relatively low sales tax of 17 percent – would help safeguard the country’s low 10 percent corporate tax that underpins its large service sector, Sarris said.

[bokonon]

ATHENS—Cyprus Finance Minister Vasos Shiarly said Monday that the country’s need for an international bailout stemming from a looming bank recapitalization plan was “exceptionally urgent” and would need to be resolved within a matter of days.
online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 … lenews_wsj

As fungus says above, they have a 10% Corpo Tax in Cyprus as well. (For now.)

[fungus]

Reuters: Cyprus bailout could come soon

reuters.com/article/2012/06/ … NT20120611

Euro zone member Cyprus strongly hinted on Monday it may have to apply for an international bailout before the end of this month, both for its banks and its general coffers.

“The issue is urgent. We know the recapitalization of the (island’s) banks must be completed by June 30, and there are a few days left,” Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly told journalists.

Cyprus is under growing pressure to apply for aid to salvage its second-largest lender Cyprus Popular Bank CPBC.CY, bowed by its exposure to debt-crippled Greece, ahead of a regulatory deadline of June 30.

Ollie Rehn has also just said that a Cyprus bailout is now “extremely urgent”. Cypriot banks must be on the edge. Bailout 5 here we come.

[fungus]

**FT: Cyprus May Look for bailout for Sovereign and Banks. **

google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=& … ogAMgi-OmA

Vassos Shiarly, finance minister, said the cash-strapped country’s predicament was exceptionally urgent because of bank capitalisation rules due to come into effect on June 30. But he also suggested Nicosia could seek aid for more than just the banking sector. Cyprus has been shut out of international capital markets for about a year.

“There are only a few days left," Mr Shiarly said,

[fungus]

Europe Bailout #5 Is In The Books
www.zerohedge.com/news/europe-bailout-5-books

After Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain, we just got domino #5. They are falling real fast now:

CYPRUS LIKELY TO HAVE TO SUPPORT ONE OF ITS BANKS, SHIARLY SAYS
CYPRUS GOVERNMENT IN CLOSE CONTACT WITH EU ON BANKS: SHIARLY
CYPRUS’S BANKING SYSTEM AT CRITICAL TURN, SHIARLY SAYS
CYPRUS PREFERS PRIVATE SOLUTION TO EU BAILOUT FOR BANKS:SHIARLY
And now just the fulcrum domino is left. The boot-shaped one.

Cyprus bond yields are now back at record highs…

[robdel]

minutes away round five !

Surely the Greeks are a side show now - Italy/Spain are the real issue.

[JohnnyTheFox]

A more in depth recounting of the Popular (Laiki) Bank debacle. It all sounds depressingly familiar.

it was clear there was a “lack of substantial regulatory control on the banking system”. Loans were often issued based on “a network of personal relationships,” starving those in the real economy - small and medium businesses and farmers - of access to finance. “This is the evolution of a system that was functioning according to its connections with the political and the economic power, and in the end reached a point of even being above it.”

reuters.com/article/2012/06/ … M920120613

[BoyRacer]

An Interesting Bailout in the Offing -> brucekrasting.blogspot.co.uk/201 … ffing.html

There is a sideshow going on in Europe this week. All eyes are on the Spanish bank bailout, but there is another bailout in the works – Cyprus. I believe that a Cyprus deal will be agreed to within days. The question in my mind is, “Who is going to put up the money?”

Let me first say that the problems in Cyprus are very small compared to Spain. If it were not for the fact that the rest of Southern Europe is on fire, Cyprus would get a very nice deal from its “friends” in Brussels. I think the country needs about Euro5B to shore ups its banks, another E20B for the Treasury. Chump change these days.

there is more

[BoyRacer]

Cypriots close to sealing €5bn loan from Moscow -> hat4uk.wordpress.com/2012/06/21/ … ther-cuba/

The Russian government last year gave Cyprus a three-year loan of 2.5 billion euros at a below-market rate of 4.5 percent to help it service its debt. Cyprus now needs another 1.8 billion euros by the end of this month to buttress its ailing banking sector. Brussels has said this will be forthcoming, but there is now a question-mark over whether the Cypriots want it. The key, unique element in this situation is that President Demetris Christofias is a communist, and a keen ally of the Russian president,** Vladimir Putin**. As the only communist leader in the union, there should be some fun and games when Cyprus takes over stewardship of the EU bloc next month. The humour will be soured for the Eurocrats, however, by the reality that a new loan from Moscow should be agreed within the next few days. Analysts say it could be as high as 5 billion euros. And Moscow is the favoured option even for non-communuist cypriots, because it would come with fewer conditions than a European Union bailout – and help ensure that Cyprus’s 10% corporate tax rate carries on attracting the estimated 50,000 Russian-speakers in Cyprus.

there is more

[fungus]

Cyprus Officially Requests Bailout

zerohedge.com/news/greek-fin … ts-bailout

CYPRUS REQUESTS EU AID
CYPRUS SEEKS EXTERNAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FROM EURO AREA: China just said NEIN

[fungus]

Fitch said bailout 2 (Russia gave bailout I) for Cyprus would be 4 billion, now it might be 10 billion …

FT: Cyprus Bailout May be as much as 10 Billion EUR

www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/80320e0e-bed0-1 … z1ypZVrnLb

Some Cypriot economists say the country could need as much as €10bn to cover the banking sector’s exposure to Greek private sector debt and other needs as well as the capitalisation requirements of Cyprus Popular Bank, the country’s second-biggest lender.

[Enoch_Root]

FT: Cyprus Bailout May be as much as 10 Billion EUR

Thats the first estimate. If Cyprus is like all the other bailout countries, You can double this.

[jake76]

FT: Cyprus Bailout May be as much as 10 Billion EUR

Thats the first estimate. If Cyprus is like all the other bailout countries, You can double this.

800000 people, they might give us a run for our money on biggest bailout per capita.

[fungus]

Troika Finds Cyprus economy worse than expected

xe.com/news/2012/08/06/28506 … s_RSS_Art1

International lenders assessing Cyprus’s bailout needs found the economy in a ‘worse state than expected’ and in need of painful adjustment in coming months, according to documents seen by Reuters.

Officials from the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the European Central Bank - known as the ‘troika’ - have visited the island twice since Cyprus asked for financial aid on June 25, the fifth euro zone member state to do so.

They told Cypriot lawmakers on July 27 that challenges to the island’s economy did not only stem from its banking sector, which is heavily exposed to Greece, but to fiscal imbalances which needed to be addressed.

Cyprus’s two main banks suffered heavy losses from a write-down of Greek sovereign debt earlier this year which was backed by all EU member states, including Cyprus.

[fungus]

FT: Cyprus Bailout May be as much as 10 Billion EUR

Thats the first estimate. If Cyprus is like all the other bailout countries, You can double this.

Good call. Estimates now well above 10 billion EUR.

Bloomberg: Cyprus May Need More Bailout Cash For Banks, Public Finances

bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-0 … ances.html

Cyprus may need more than the 10 billion euros ($12.4 billion) staffers have estimated for a financial lifeline after bigger shortfalls than anticipated were found on the government’s balance sheet, according to the minutes of a meeting of international and Cypriot officials.

A mission of officials from the European Commission, European Central Bank and the IMF, the so-called troika, met with Cypriot lawmakers on July 27 to present findings from their analysis of the country’s economy. On June 25, Cyprus became the fifth of the euro area’s 17 member states to seek external aid.

[BoyRacer]

[fungus]

I wonder how much of this will Ireland be supplying …

Cyprus seeks €11.5 billion bailout

euobserver.com/economic/117762

Cyprus is reportedly seeking a €11.5 billion credit line from member states using the euro to help bailout its troubled banks and close its budget gaps.

The island-nation’s bank exposure to Greek debt restructuring already cost it some €4 billion earlier this year.

The exposure compelled Nicosia in June to request an EU-IMF bailout after its two largest banks, Bank of Cyprus and Cyprus Popular Bank, revealed massive fiscal holes due to Greek debt exposure.

Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly reportedly said on Thursday (4 October) the banks will need another €5 billion in new capital, reports Bloomberg. The troika of the European Commission, IMF and European Central Bank however put the figure closer to €10 billion.