Cyprus bailout cost may be half its economy-official By Michele Kambas
NICOSIA, June 26 (Reuters) - Cyprus, the fifth euro zone country to seek emergency funding from Europe, may need a bailout of up to 10 billion euros, over half the size of its economy, officials said on Tuesday. The Mediterranean island, with a banking sector heavily exposed to debt-crippled Greece, said on Monday it was formally applying for help from the European Union's rescue funds. Cyprus is the euro zone's third smallest economy but it joins Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain in seeking EU rescue funds to try and stay afloat, and is the latest sign that policymakers have failed to stop the debt crisis spreading. European leaders will meet at a summit on Thursday and Friday but they are not expected to come up with a lasting solution to the region's problems that have also sent Italy's borrowing costs soaring. Two euro zone officials said that a package of up to 10 billion euros was being considered for the 17.3 billion euro Cyrpriot economy.
"The exact number has not been decided yet. It was to be 6 billion for the state financing and 2 billion for the banks but that is optimistic - it is more likely to be seven and three - up to 10 billion euros in total," one euro zone official said. A second official confirmed the amount was likely to be up to 10 billion euros, a massive bill for Cyprus. While the sum is easily within the range of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) bailout fund, it may lead to demands for collateral or for private bondholders to take a write-down as they did in Greece. Greece's second 130 billion euros bailout is equal to about 60 percent of the country's gross domestic product and private bondholders were asked to contribute to making debt servicing more manageable through a debt restructuring.
HURT BY GREECE
Cyprus needs to plug a 1.8 billion euro regulatory capital shortfall in its second largest lender by June 30. Potential aid could be more comprehensive to cover fiscal requirements, Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly told Reuters. "For Spain it's about sectoral help for the banks. Cyprus is, in terms of volume, rather an island that we must help because it has been so handicapped by the Greek deficit at the moment," Austrian Finance Minister Maria Fekter said. Cyprus is thought to have applied to the EU for aid after exhausting attempts to secure loans from either China or Russia. Those efforts, however, will be ongoing. "We will continue efforts to secure a bilateral loan, which can be used accordingly," government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said. Cyprus has been shut out of international capital markets for more than a year, with yields on its 10 year benchmark bond over 16 percent on Tuesday. Sidestepping EU aid earlier, it secured a 2.5 billion euro loan from Russia in late 2011.
The loan amount is expected to cover needs in 2012, but not in 2013, when Cyprus has 2.25 billion euros in refinancing, including a euro medium term note (EMTN) redemption. President Demetris Christofias, whose administration has been slammed by opposition for dragging its feet in both applying to the EU and taking measures earlier to shore up the island's economy, was to brief politicians later on Tuesday. Christofias has been accused by the opposition of being out of touch with reality and ignoring warning signs that the economy was in trouble, suggestions the government strongly denies. The bailout request comes as Cyprus prepares to assume the rotating EU presidency on July 1. "It is a tragic coincidence," Cyprus Parliamentary speaker Yiannakis Omirou told state radio.
DJ Credit Suisse to Cut up to 30% of Europe Investment-Bank Department Jobs -Sources CS.N CSGN.VX By Anita Greil and Dana Cimilluca
ZURICH--Credit Suisse Group AG (CS, CSGN.VX) is moving ahead with its plan to cut more than 3,500 jobs as it is set to shed up to 30% of senior jobs at its European investment-banking department, people close to the bank said Monday. Last year, Switzerland's second-largest bank disclosed plans to cut as much as 7% of its workforce. At the end of March, the bank said 2,000 of these jobs had already been eliminated. The next business to feel the axe is the investment-banking department in Europe, where between 20% and 30% of jobs will be eliminated, the people said. This business includes activities such as advisory, mergers and acquisitions, as well as equity and debt-capital markets. It is a unit of the broader investment bank, which includes fixed income, currency and equity trading.
The cuts come as Credit Suisse, like many of its rivals, is under pressure to reduce costs, as the industry never fully recovered from the 2008 financial crisis. Credit Suisse suffered a dismal second half in 2011, and earnings in the first quarter this year were lackluster. The second quarter promises to be no better, analysts said. The Zurich-based bank is also under pressure from shareholders to cut lavish pay for its bankers. More recently, Switzerland's central bank publicly urged Credit Suisse to shore up its capital base more quickly than planned to ensure it can withstand the effect on the banking sector should Europe's debt crisis intensify. After its Friday meeting last week, the bank's board took the unusual step of issuing a statement, saying it has full confidence in management's plans to strengthen capital and that it was confident with progress made toward meeting pending regulatory requirements.
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