Infinite Unknown

“Cyprus’ Bottom”

Flashback: “Brown’s Bottom”

- Cyprus Finance Minister Sees Gold Sale Within Next Months (Bloomberg, April 17, 2013):

The Cypriot government plans to sell part of its gold reserves within the next months, a decision that needs to be approved by the country’s central bank, Finance Minister Haris Georgiades said.“The exact details of it will be formulated in due course primarily by the board of the central bank,” Georgiades, 41, told Bloomberg TV’s Ryan Chilcote in an interview in Nicosia. “Obviously it’s a big decision.”

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades is trying to unlock 10 billion euros ($13.2 billion) of loans from the euro area and the International Monetary Fund. To do so, he must come up with a further 11 billion euros through measures including a tax on bank deposits of more than 100,000 euros at the country’s two biggest banks, the sale of assets and gold and other tax measures.

Continue reading »

Tags: Cyprus, ECB, Economy, EU, Europe, Global News, Gold, Government, IMF, Politics

- Which Country’s Gold Will Be Sold Next? (ZeroHedge, April 15, 2013):

The first time the Status Quo/Troika tried to force a (not so) stealthy gold confiscation on an insolvent European country was back in early 2012, when as part of the most recent Greek bailout MOU, it was disclosed that “Greece’s lenders will have the right to seize the gold reserves in the Bank of Greece under the terms of the new deal.” However, the public outcry was so loud that the Troika had no choice but to shelve its plans and proceed with a full scale bondholder restructuring instead. Fast forward to last week, when Europe’s appetite for physical gold came back with a bang, this time as part of the Cyprus “Debt Sustainability Analysis“, and subsequent comments from Mario Draghi, demanding that tiny Cyprus, whose opposition, already weakened by the confiscation of uninsured deposits would be far less vocal than Greece’s, sell off €400MM, or virtually all of its sovereign gold, over 10 of its 13.9 total tons, to cover the excess costs of its ever ballooning sovereign bailout. Continue reading »

Tags: Bailout, Cyprus, ECB, Economy, EU, Europe, Gold, Goldman Sachs, Greece, Mario Draghi

- I Illustrate How The Irish Banking Cancer Spreads To The UK Taxpayer And Metastasizes Through US Markets! (ZeroHedge, April 12, 2013)

Tags: Banking, Bonds, ECB, Economy, EU, Europe, Global News, IMF, Ireland, Lehman Brothers, RBS, Reggie Middleton, U.K., U.S.

- Cyprus Central Bank In Shambles Following Third Board Member Resignation (ZeroHedge, April 12, 2013):

Perhaps the most underfollowed story of the day is the blatant takeover of the Cypriot Central bank by the ECB, which as we reported earlier, has been ordered to sell their gold by the ECB’s Mario Draghi, even though the disposition decision of the “independent” central bank of the now insolvent nation is supposedly theirs. First it was this:

• PANICOS DEMETRIADES SAYS CYPRUS CENTRAL BANK INDEPENDENCE UNDER ATTACK,
  
• DEMETRIADES SAYS GOVT WANTS TO SELL GOLD WITHOUT CONSULTATION.

And now we learn that not one, not two, but three board members of the central bank have called it a day:

• THIRD BOARD MEMBER OF THE CYPRUS CENTRAL BANK RESIGNS – CYBC
  

We are sure there are at least a few more board members who can resign topped off by Panicos himself bailing, before the entire central bank implodes, and there is nobody left in charge of the now obsolete monetary policy apparatus. What happens then: will Goldman appoint a new “technocratic” Board and governor, or will the country finally confirm that all European lies about member bank Independence is just one big lie?

Tags: Bank of Cyprus, Banking, Cyprus, ECB, Economy, EU, Europe, Global News, Gold, Government, Mario Draghi, Politics, Society

- EMU plot curdles as creditors seize Cyprus gold reserves (Telegraph, April 11, 2013):

First they purloin the savings and bank deposits in Laiki and the Bank of Cyprus, including the working funds of the University of Cyprus, and thousands of small firms hanging on by their fingertips.

Then they seize three quarters of the country’s gold reserves, making it ever harder for Cyprus to extricate itself from EMU at a later date.

The people of Cyprus first learned about this from a Reuters leak of the working documents for the Eurogroup meeting on Friday.

It is tucked away in clause 29. “Sale of excess gold reserves: The Cypriot authorities have committed to sell the excess amount of gold reserves owned by the Republic. This is estimated to generate one-off revenues to the state of €400m via an extraordinary payout of central bank profits.”

This seemed to catch the central bank by surprise. Officials said they knew nothing about it. So who in fact made this decision?

Continue reading »

Tags: Bank of Cyprus, Banking, Cyprus, ECB, Economy, EU, Europe, Germany, Global News, Gold, Government, Politics, Society

- Mario Draghi Orders Cyprus To Sell Gold To Cover Bailout “Shortfall” (ZeroHedge, April 11, 2013):

Update, and sure enough:

• PANICOS DEMETRIADES SAYS CYPRUS CENTRAL BANK INDEPENDENCE UNDER ATTACK,
• DEMETRIADES SAYS GOVT WANTS TO SELL GOLD WITHOUT CONSULTATION.
• CYPRUS CENTRAL BANK GOV DEMETRIADES SAYS HE AND HIS FAMILY RECEIVED DEATH THREATS

As a reminder, Panicos holds the now obsolete position of head of the Cyprus Central Bank.

* * *

As was noted two days ago (so certainly not the news catalyst for today’s gold sell off as some are trying to make it appear) as part of its bailout expansion by 35%, Cyprus announced, then refuted, then re-admitted, it would need to fund a portion of the incremental €7 billion in cash demands by selling €400 million, or nearly all 13.9 tons, of its central bank gold. Today, we learn that this demand came from none other than the head of the ECB Mario Draghi. Bloomberg reports: “European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the profits of any gold sales by the Cypriot central bank must be used to cover losses it may sustain from emergency loans to Cypriot commercial banks.”

Of course, to make it seem that the Cyprus central bank is “independent”, the “European creditors today left a possible gold sale in the hands of the Cypriot central bank, which manages 13.9 metric tons of the metal, according to the World Gold Council.” Naturally, it would not be very politically correct to give the impression that it is none other than the collateral and asset-starved European central bank that is effectively running local monetary policy of its member states, and certainly would not make Cypriots, already devoid of their uninsured bank deposits, happy that the next demand by the ECB for the privilege of staying in the EUR is for them to hand over the only real asset their country has.

More from Bloomberg:

“The decision is going to be taken by the central bank,” Draghi said after a meeting of euro-area finance officials in Dublin. “What’s important, however, is that what is being transferred to the government budget out of the profits made out of the sales of gold should cover first and foremost any potential loss that the central bank might have from its ELA.”

Continue reading »

Tags: Bank of Cyprus, Banking, Cyprus, ECB, Economy, EU, Europe, Global News, Gold, Government, Mario Draghi, Politics

- Carmen Reinhart: “No Doubt. Our Pensions Are Screwed.” (ZeroHedge, April 11, 2013):

“The crisis isn’t over yet,” warns Carmen Reinhart, “not in the US and not in Europe.” Known for her deep understanding that ‘it’s never different this time’, the Harvard economist drops the truth grenade a number of times in this excellent Der Spiegel interview. Sweeping away the sound and fury of a self-serving Federal Reserve or BoJ, she chides, “no central bank will admit it is keeping rates low to help governments out of their debt crises. But in fact they are bending over backwards to help governments to finance their deficits,” and guess what, “this is nothing new in history.”

After World War II, all countries that had a big debt overhang relied on financial repression to avoid an explicit default. After the war, governments imposed interest rate ceilings for government bonds; but, nowadays, she explains, “monetary policy is doing the job. And with high unemployment and low inflation that doesn’t even look suspicious. Only when inflation picks up, which is ultimately going to happen, will it become obvious that central banks have become subservient to governments.”

Nations “seldom just grow themselves out of debt,” as so many believe is possible, “you need a combination of austerity, so that you don’t add further to the pile of debt, and higher inflation, which is effectively a subtle form of taxation,” with the consequence that people are going to lose their savings. Reinhart succinctly summarizes, “no doubt, our pensions are screwed.”

This will take 3 minutes to read – read it. Understand what she is saying. Continue reading »

Tags: China, ECB, EU, Europe, Fed, Federal Reserve, France, GDP, Global News, Government, Greece, Ireland, Japan, Pension, Politics, Retirement, Spain, U.S.

- The Next Capital Control: Banning The €500 Bill (ZeroHedge, April 9, 2013)

Tags: ECB, EU, Euro, Europe, Fed, Federal Reserve, Global News

- Bank Of England Admits “Stocks Don’t Reflect Economic Reality” (ZeroHedge, April 5, 2013):

The Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee (BoEFPC) warns there is “evidence of the re-emergence of… behavior in financial markets not seen since before the financial crisis,” citing the increased issuance of synthetic products and added that banks have “little margin for error against a backdrop of low growth in the advanced economies,” despite what we are told about their ‘fortress balance sheets. Bloomberg Businessweek adds that the BoE were careful not to scare the public, they add, events currently “did not appear indicative of widespread exuberance in markets. But developments would need to be monitored closely.” This following the Fed’s warnings of ‘froth’ in the credit markets suggests central bans are considerably more concerned at blowing bubbles than they want to admit in public. ECB’s Weber recently commented that he feared, “the recent rally in financial markets could be a misleading signal,” which appears confirmed by the BoEFPC noting that equity performance since mid-2012, “in part reflected exceptionally accommodative monetary policies by many central banks… But market sentiment may be taking too rosy a view of the underlying stresses.”

Via Bloomberg BusinessWeek,

The Bank of England said rising equity markets don’t reflect the underlying economic situation and warned that investors may be underestimating risks in the financial system.

Gains by equities since mid-2012 “in part reflected exceptionally accommodative monetary policies by many central banks,” the BOE’s Financial Policy Committee said today in London in the minutes of its March 19 meeting. “It was also consistent with a perception among some contacts that the most significant downside risks had attenuated. But market sentiment may be taking too rosy a view of the underlying stresses.”

Continue reading »

Tags: Bank of England, Central Bank, ECB, Economy, Fed, Federal Reserve, Global News, Government, Politics, Stock Market

- Mario Draghi Responds To Zero Hedge: “There Is No Plan B” (ZeroHedge, April 4, 2013):

This happened earlier today, at the ECB press conference:Scott Solano, DPA: Mr Draghi, I’ve got a couple of question from the viewers at Zero Hedge, and one of them goes like this: say the situation in Greece or Spain deteriorates even further, and they want to or are forced to step out of the Eurozone, is there a plan in place so that the markets don’t basically collapse? Is there some kind of structural system, structural safety net, especially in the area of derivatives? And the second questions is: you spoke earlier about the Emergency Liquidity Assistance, and what would have happened to the ELA in Cyprus, the approximately €10 billion, if the country had decided to leave the Eurozone?

Mario Draghi, ECB: Well you really are asking questions that are so hypothetical that I don’t have an answer to them. Well, I may have a partial answer. These questions are formulated by people who vastly underestimate what the Euro means for the Europeans, for the Euro area. They vastly underestimate the amount of political capital that has been invested in the Euro. And so they keep on asking questions like: “If the Euro breaks down, and if a country leaves the Euro, it’s not like a sliding door. It’s a very important thing. It’s a project in the European Union. That’s why you have a very hard time asking people like me “what would happened if.” No Plan B.

Secondly, I think the ECB has shown its determination to fight any redenomination risk. And OMT with its precise rules and acting within its mandate, is there to this purpose. So that’s the answer to the first question.

The second question was about the ELA, but again it’s related to “if Cyprus leaves”  and again we don’t have that in mind, so…. No Plan B.

Informative. We do have three follow up questions: Continue reading »

Tags: Cyprus, ECB, Economy, Europe, Global News, Greece, Politics, Quantitative Easing, Spain