BRUSSELS, March 25 (Reuters) – Cyprus clinched a last-ditch
deal with international lenders on Monday for a 10 billion euro
($13 billion) bailout that will shut down its second largest
bank and inflict heavy losses on uninsured depositors, including
wealthy Russians.

The agreement emerged after fraught negotiations between
President Nicos Anastasiades and heads of the European Union,
the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund -
hours before a deadline to avert a collapse of the banking
system.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Cyprus reached an outline deal with international lenders for a 10 billion euro ($13 billion) bailout that would shut down its second largest bank and inflict heavy losses on uninsured depositors, an EU spokesman said early on Monday.

The tentative deal emerged after fraught negotiations between President Nicos Anastasiades and heads of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund – hours before a deadline to avert a collapse of the banking system.

BRUSSELS, March 21 (Reuters) – Euro zone finance ministers
urged Cyprus on Thursday to say how it could reach a deal with
international lenders that would save it from bankruptcy after
the Cypriot parliament rejected the conditions of a bailout
offer.

Since the terms were rejected, the ministers expected Cyprus
to propose how it wanted to change the bailout, but the main
parameters needed to stay the same, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who
chairs the ministers’ meetings, said in a statement.

BRUSSELS, March 21 (Reuters) – There was no official red
flag that Cyprus’s oversized banking sector posed a big risk to
its economy until last year, when the European Union set up
tools to monitor such imbalances, a Reuters review of EU reports
dating back to 2003 showed.

The total consolidated assets of the Cypriot banking sector,
dominated by three large banks, are 7.5 times the size of the
island’s economy, which produces almost 18 billion euros ($23.27
billion) a year.

BRUSSELS, March 21 (Reuters) – If Cyprus cannot agree on a
levy on deposits it faces having its biggest banks wound down,
which would wipe out uninsured depositors, or could be forced to
leave the euro zone, a senior European Union official said on
Thursday.

“At the end of the day it is their own choice,” said the
official, who has direct knowledge of the negotiations between
the euro zone, the International Monetary Fund and Cyprus.

BERLIN/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – For Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the new face of the euro zone, a furor over a decision to hurt savers in Cyprus has been a baptism of fire in his role as chairman of the Eurogroup of finance ministers of the currency area.

After just his third meeting in the job, the Dutch minister faces accusations of failing to anticipate the wrath that a confiscatory levy on small savers would spark, risking a rejection by the Cypriot parliament that could plunge the euro zone back into crisis.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – International lenders struck a deal on Saturday to hand Cyprus a bailout worth 10 billion euros (8 billion pounds) to stave off bankruptcy, a senior euro zone official said.

Cyprus is the fifth country after Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain to turn to the euro zone for financial help in the wake of the sovereign debt crisis that started in 2010.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – International lenders struck a deal on Saturday to hand Cyprus a bailout worth 10 billion euros ($13 billion) to stave off bankruptcy, a senior euro zone official said.

Cyprus is the fifth country after Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain to turn to the euro zone for financial help in the wake of the sovereign debt crisis that started in 2010.

BRUSSELS, March 16 (Reuters) – International lenders struck
a deal on Saturday to hand Cyprus a bailout worth 10 billion
euros ($13 billion) to stave off bankruptcy, a senior euro zone
official said.

After 10 hours of talks through the night, finance ministers
from the currency bloc and IMF chief Christine Lagarde agreed to
a package, smaller than initially expected, mainly needed to
recapitalise the Mediterranean island’s banks which were hit
hard by a sovereign debt restructuring in Greece last year.

BRUSSELS, March 15 (Reuters) – International lenders are
aiming to give Cyprus a bailout of close to 10 billion euros,
less than initially expected, with taxes imposed on Cypriot
bank depositors likely to fill the gap, officials said on
Friday.

Euro zone finance ministers meet at 1600 GMT along with IMF
chief Christine Lagarde to discuss the bailout, mainly needed to
recapitalise the Mediterranean island’s banks which were hit
hard by a sovereign debt restructuring in Greece last year.