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Markets · Event

Cyprus banking crisis

2013-03-25

The 3/25 agreement included resolution of Laiki and conversion of some unprotected deposits into equity.

CyprusEuro areaBank resolution

Conditions at the time

Imbalances in Cyprus’s financial sector and the costs of bank reconstruction were central to international support negotiations.

How events unfolded

The 3/25 agreement included resolution of Laiki and conversion of some unprotected deposits into equity.

Stakeholders and impacts

Bank shareholders, creditors, depositors, Cypriot authorities and the Eurogroup shared the loss burden.

Information available at the time

The agreement aimed to preserve protected deposits of up to 10 ten-thousand euros while restructuring the financial sector.

Findings confirmed later

The Central Bank of Cyprus explained the internal loss-bearing structure apart from government funding.

Alternative interpretations and limitations

Describing this as uniform confiscation of all deposits would be inaccurate. Protected versus unprotected deposits and differences in bank-specific treatment matter.

Source-based context and interpretation

After the agreement, Cyprus's central bank described transfer of Laiki's insured deposits and business to Bank of Cyprus, with uninsured deposits treated separately. For Bank of Cyprus, partial conversion into equity differed from temporary freezing. Agreement terms and operational implementation were not identical. ASSETCASTING interpretation: Maintaining banking services is different from preventing every creditor loss. Separate deposit insurance, loss allocation and temporary access restrictions instead of calling all deposits either confiscated or protected. Subsequent decrees could modify these initial arrangements.

Evidence coverage through 2013-03-30 · Sources checked 2026-10-14

Related events and periods1

Historical events do not guarantee future recurrence or investment performance.