Off the wire
• Roundup: Lithuania, Poland pledge to help in Ukraine's European integration  • Urgent: Gold up on Greece uncertainty  • UN Security Council calls for cooperation against travel of foreign terror fighters  • Desperate Burundian refugees turn to prostitution in Rwanda  • Rwanda imposes "definite suspension" of BBC broadcasts over controversial documentary  • Blatter re-elected as FIFA president amid corruption crisis  • Roundup: Possible attack against Israeli targets thwarted: media  • Spanish stock market falls 1.45 pct, closes at 11,217 points  • Greece dismisses ultimatum scenario, expects debt deal with lenders by Monday  • Tunisia PM slams EU boat destroyer mission  
You are here: 　 Home

Deposits not much affected by lifting of capital controls: Cypriot Central Bank

Xinhua, May 30, 2015 Adjust font size:

The complete lifting of capital controls did not significantly affect deposits in Cypriot banks, reflecting a return to stability of the banking system, according to data released by the Central Bank of Cyprus on Friday.

Total deposits in April, when capital control regulations were left to expire, showed a net drop of 59.1 million euros (64.92 million U.S. dollars) against a decrease of 130.3 million euros the previous month, the data showed.

Total bank deposits stood at 46.38 billion euros in April 2015, compared to 46.81 billion euros the previous month and 46.39 billion euros in April 2014.

The figures were interpreted by analysts as an indication of bank stabilization after the upheaval that followed Cyprus's 10 billion euros bailout more than two years ago.

Capital controls were introduced in March 2013 to prevent a run on the banks after international lenders forced Bank of Cyprus, the eastern Mediterranean island's main lender to recapitalize by seizing 47.5 percent of large deposits over 100,000 euros and wound down another bank.

Most of those affected were Russian oligarchs, who have become the main shareholders of the bank, along with American billionaire Wilbur Ross and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

Ross and EBRD invested 1 billion euros when Bank of Cyprus recapitalized again last year to pass European Central Bank stress tests. Endit