Philippos Christou/APPeople wait outside a Coop bank branch in Nicosia, Cyprus, on Thursday. Banks across the country were being replenished with cash, and scheduled to open for six hours at noon (10 GMT).
NICOSIA, Cyprus — Banks in Cyprus opened their doors on Thursday for the first time in almost two weeks, with tight controls on transactions to prevent a run on deposits after the island was forced to accept a stringent EU rescue package to avert bankruptcy.
In central Nicosia, queues of at least a dozen people had formed outside branches of the country’s two biggest lenders, Bank of Cyprus and Cyprus Popular Bank, also known as Laiki.
Petros Karadjias/AP Protesters lie on the ground in front of riot police outside the Cypriot Parliament during a protest Tuesday. A bailout plan intended to raise $7.5 billion has been met with fury in Cyprus and has sent jitters across financial markets.
NICOSIA, Cyprus — Banks across Cyprus remain locked Tuesday after financial authorities extended the country’s bank closure, fearing worried depositors will rush to drain their accounts. The shutdown is hammering businesses, which have been without access to their funds for more than a week.
All but two of the country’s largest lenders had been due to reopen Tuesday, after being shut since March 16 while politicians figured out how to raise the funds necessary for Cyprus to qualify for an international bailout. Under the deal for a €10 billion ($12.94 billion) rescue clinched in Brussels early Monday, Cyprus agreed to slash its oversized banking sector and inflict hefty losses on large depositors in troubled banks.
After initially saying most financial institutions would reopen Tuesday, the country’s Central Bank made a surprise reversal just before midnight, announcing all banks would remain closed until Thursday.
ATMs have been operating throughout the closure, but many have quickly run out of money. A daily withdrawal limit of €100 has been imposed on ATMs of the two largest lenders, Bank of Cyprus and Laiki. An increasing number of businesses have stopped accepting credit or check payments, insisting on cash only.
The bank closures have hammered businesses, who have found themselves unable to pay suppliers or fulfill orders. The retail market is sharply down too, shop owners say, with customers unwilling to spend on anything but the basics while they have limited access to cash.
“The continuation of this uncertainty is pushing the economy deeper into recession, some businesses could possibly lose their clients, but we’re hopeful once this situation is sorted out, the market can rebound quickly,” said Michalis Pilikos, head of the Cyprus Employers and Industrialists Federation.
Scores of angry students from a left-wing student union gathered outside Parliament, screaming “People, fight back, they’re sucking your blood.”
Under the new Cyprus bailout plan, the bulk of the funds will be raised by forcing losses on accounts of more than €100,000 in the country’s second- largest lender, Laiki, with the remainder coming from tax increases and privatizations.
The bank will be dissolved immediately into a so-called bad bank containing its uninsured deposits and toxic assets, with the guaranteed deposits being transferred to the nation’s biggest lender, Bank of Cyprus.
Deposits at Bank of Cyprus above €100,000 will be frozen until it becomes clear whether or to what extent they will also be forced to take losses. Those funds will eventually be converted into bank shares.
