Cypriot depositors prepare legal battle

Cypriot depositors prepare legal battle over EU bank bailout

Published 07 August 2013

http://www.euractiv.com/euro-finance/cypriot-depositors-prepare-legal-news-529735?utm_source=EurActiv%20Newsletter&utm_campaign=406d135922-newsletter_weekly_update&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_bab5f0ea4e-406d135922-245523965

A victim of Cyprus's chaotic financial rescue, Georgiou cannot be sure his stressful legal battle for the lost money wrecked his family's health. But, as he said with grim understatement, "it sure as hell didn't help".

Georgiou is one of an estimated 20,000 account holders who had large amounts of savings wiped out almost overnight at Laiki, the island's second-largest bank, which was wound down under the €10 billion international aid package.

"My initial reaction was utter disbelief. Now I am just angry," Georgiou, 56, told Reuters. He has spent the best part of the past four months arguing with his bank manager and in lawyers' offices, trying to reclaim funds his father and three sisters had in the now-defunct bank.

The Georgiou family's case is one of hundreds of actions against commercial lenders, the central bank and the government that are pending in the courts. If successful, they could unravel the "bail-in" which saved Cyprus from bankruptcy in March but, unlike the bailouts of other troubled EU countries, targeted savings in two major banks.

Tiny Cyprus became the testing ground for EU leaders who realised their electorates would no longer accept using any more taxpayers' money to save banks from collapse.

Depositors hit

Whereas a long line of EU banks were rescued at huge public expense during the 2008-09 financial crisis, this time the EU excluded Laiki and its peer, Bank of Cyprus, from any aid.

Instead, their clients paid. About €4.3 billion in deposits belonging to 14,000 entities were affected by the winding-down of Laiki. This left savers with at most 100,000 euros, the ceiling on deposit insurance under EU regulations.

Altogether the Georgiou family had €750,000 in Laiki. Some of this is covered by the insurance but exactly how much remains unclear due to confusion over entitlements on the several joint accounts they held. Bank officials have revised the size of their estimated losses several times, adding to the anxiety.

Unlike Laiki, Bank of Cyprus is being saved but the authorities slapped a 47.5% loss on deposits exceeding the €100,000 limit to help recapitalise it, exchanging the seized funds for shares in the lender.

Both banks had gambled on high-yielding Greek government bonds which blasted holes in their balance sheets when the country's debt was restructured under another EU/IMF rescue. The Cyprus government would have gone bankrupt had it tried to rescue the banks itself.

Seeking relief in court

Lawyers for the plaintiffs, who range from Russians who wrongly thought their savings were in a safe place to ordinary Cypriots like the Georgious, say they have a strong case.

"There are very solid grounds to believe their action will succeed," said Costas Velaris, a Nicosia lawyer.

"Now whether the defendant - the bank concerned, the Central Bank and the government of Cyprus - will have the money to compensate the successful applicant is another matter," said Velaris, who is one of a team advising depositors.

Neither the Attorney General's office nor the Central Bank, which took over responsibility for the two banks, responded immediately to requests for comment. However, central bank officials have stressed they had to make very difficult decisions after the European Central Bank said it would halt emergency funding for the two lenders, unless Cyprus agreed to the terms of the EU and International Monetary Fund's rescue.

Under this deal, Cyprus approved a "bank resolution framework" which split Laiki into a "good" and a "bad" bank. The good assets, including the insured deposits under €100,000, were transferred to Bank of Cyprus

Velaris said the legal action will not stop in Cyprus, but extend to the European Court of Justice and further afield if necessary. Action would be taken against European institutions, officials and "whomever we can lay a hand on", he said.

EurActiv.com with Reuters

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