NICOSIA (Reuters) – The IMF said on Friday that risks for Cyprus were “unusually high” given its weak banking sector and economy and the island’s full adoption of an economic austerity plan was imperative.

The island’s 17.5 billion euro economy faced risks from the uncertain impact of the crisis in its banking sector and the possibility that its economic contraction could be deeper than projected, the IMF said in a staff report.

BRUSSELS/NICOSIA, May 16 (Reuters) – Cyprus could use its
reserves of gas to meet up to 40 percent of Europe’s additional
gas needs over the next decade, helping to curb the European
Union’s reliance on Russia, the head of the island’s national
gas firm said.

Europe has hopes Eastern Mediterranean gas reserves can help
to diversify its supply sources, as well as easing Cyprus’s
economic pain and potentially playing a role in healing the rift
between the northern and southern parts of the island.

HELSINKI/NICOSIA, May 15 (Reuters) – Cyprus’s banking
system, which is being restructured under an international
bailout, is more vulnerable to money laundering than previously
thought, a report commissioned as a condition of the rescue
said.

Auditor Moneyval and financial advisory firm Deloitte found
due diligence and safeguards by Cypriot banks to be insufficient
in some cases, according to a summary report of their findings.

NICOSIA (Reuters) – When the Cyprus bank run began earlier this year, Russians set much of the pace. Documents seen by Reuters show that as the Mediterranean island headed towards financial meltdown in March, most notable among companies transferring money from the country’s two main banks were Russians and East Europeans.

At least 3.6 billion euros ($4.67 billion) was removed in two weeks by big depositors, according to the documents. Though many companies listed initially appear obscure, a Reuters analysis shows a significant proportion are vehicles for foreign investors more at home in Moscow or Kiev than Nicosia.

NICOSIA, May 15 (Reuters) – When the Cyprus bank run began
earlier this year, Russians set much of the pace. Documents seen
by Reuters show that as the Mediterranean island headed towards
financial meltdown in March, most notable among companies
transferring money from the country’s two main banks were
Russians and East Europeans.

At least 3.6 billion euros ($4.67 billion) was removed in
two weeks by big depositors, according to the documents. Though
many companies listed initially appear obscure, a Reuters
analysis shows a significant proportion are vehicles for foreign
investors more at home in Moscow or Kiev than Nicosia.

NICOSIA (Reuters) – Cyprus must swiftly recapitalize its banks following the island’s bailout so they can begin lending again, the head of its banking association said, adding that offshore gas could be the economy’s new engine.

Under the 10 billon euro international aid package agreed in March, Cyprus must close one bank, Popular CPBC.CY, and impose painful losses on deposits of more than 100,000 euros held at the euro zone state’s biggest lender, Bank of Cyprus BOC.CY.

NICOSIA (Reuters) – Cyprus’s parliament approved an EU bailout on Tuesday which will force it to wind down its second-largest bank and impose heavy losses on uninsured depositors at another, conditions that have intensified calls from islanders to exit the euro.

With a razor-thin majority of just two votes, lawmakers approved terms accompanying 10 billion eurosin aid from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

NICOSIA, April 30 (Reuters) – Cyprus’s parliament decides on
Tuesday whether to back a bailout imposed by its EU partners,
with approval likely from a thin majority against mounting calls
for the island to exit the euro.

Lawmakers were due to meet in an extraordinary session to
ratify the terms of the aid, which is conditional on Cyprus
winding down its second-largest bank and imposing heavy losses
on uninsured depositors in another. Voting was expected on
Tuesday afternoon.

NICOSIA (Reuters) – One day last October, a memory stick containing special software for deleting data was placed into a desktop computer at Bank of Cyprus.

Within minutes, 28,000 files were erased, according to investigators who had wanted to copy the data for an official report into the collapse of the Cypriot banking system.

NICOSIA, April 30 (Reuters) – One day last October, a memory
stick containing special software for deleting data was placed
into a desktop computer at Bank of Cyprus.

Within minutes, 28,000 files were erased, according to
investigators who had wanted to copy the data for an official
report into the collapse of the Cypriot banking system.