Top E.U. official: Cyprus bank rescue new template
BRUSSELS — A top European official says the move in Cyprus to inflict losses on banks' shareholders, bondholders and even owners of large deposits should become the bloc's default approach for dealing with ailing lenders.
Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who chairs the Eurogroup gatherings of the 17 eurozone finance ministers, said in an interview Monday banks' owners and investors must be held responsible “before looking at public money or any other instrument coming from the public side.”
The Eurogroup earlier Monday granted Cyprus a 10 billion euro ($13 billion) bailout that foresees dissolving a large bank, wiping out its bondholders and inflicting significant losses on deposits larger than 100,000 euros. EU officials had said that was a “unique step.”
Dijsselbloem's office confirmed the remarks made in an interview with the Financial Times and Reuters.