Cypriot Banks Can Withstand Greek Haircut

Cyprus’s major banks have enough capital to withstand a potential restructuring of Greek government debt, Central Bank of Cyprus governor Athanasios Orphanides said.
“We carried out analyses and checked some scenarios and our major banks have such a strong capital base that they may withstand negative scenarios,” Orphanides told reporters in Nicosia today. “Of course they would be affected. There’s no way that there wouldn’t be a loss, which means that such an eventuality would lead to losses for shareholders in the Cyprus banks as it would lead to losses of shareholders in banks of other countries in the euro area.”