Tag Archives: Banking

FYI, News

CYPRUS IS RUNNING OUT OF TIME TO SECURE BAILOUT

The troubled island nation of Cyprus is running out of time to secure a bailout form it’s eurozone partners this weekend. If it fails to secure the bailout the nation will default on it’s debts, and will go bankrupt. Cyprus needs to raise 5.8 billion euros ($7.5 billion) in order to secure 10 billion euros in loans form the eurozone.

Lawmakers in Nicosia have rejected a plan to raise part of the 5.8 billion euros ($7.5 billion), by taxing private bank accounts. The banks in Cyprus have been closed all week, and the ECB has told Cyprus to keep them closed until Tuesday, in order to prevent a run on the banks. However, Cypriots have spent the week queuing at ATMS to withdraw as much of their money as possible, fearful of what the government may do.

The European Central Bank has told Cyprus they will not continue to provide emergency funding past Monday, if a plan is not in place to secure the 5.8 billion euros.

The uncertainty has caused stock markets to fall throughout Europe. Russia has been angered by the prospect of bank accounts being taxed, as Cyprus is a favourite place for Russians to do business. However, Germans will be unwilling to be seen to bail out wealthy Russian oligarchs. Cyprus and Russia currently do $¼ trillion of business annually, and Cyprus has debt repayments of $53 billion annually to Moscow. The close business ties between the two nations has led many to speculate that Russia will offer to bailout Cyprus, if Europe will not.

Lawmakers are looking at ways to restructure the countries ailing banks. It looks likely that Laiki Bank will close, with it’s assets moved to other banks. Laiki Bank has suffered heavy loses due to it’s exposure to the Greek debt crisis.

Read More: France 24

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History of Luxembourg

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Luxembourg began as a hill top fortress in the AD600’s. As you can imagine it has always been a hugely strategic location, between France and Germany. Throughout European history the different countries have spent a lot of time fighting each other (from 1500 until 1800 the big European nations were at war over 50% of the time) and Luxembourg was often in the centre of all this. So Luxembourg became one of the most heavily fortified and blood stained lands in Europe.

Luxembourg has changed hands many times over the years; it has been under the rule of France, Germany, Austria, Spain and Prussia. When the Austrian’s had it, they gave it as a gift to the King of the Netherlands as well as making it a Royal Duchy. This enabled Luxembourg to build it’s own political institutions, so in 1867 it was recognised as a politically independent state. Due to it’s strategic importance it was officially declared to be neutral – so as not to cause problems between France and Germany (they have not always been as friendly as the now appear!) This neutrality was broken when Germany invaded in the first world war, and again in the second WW. Their neutrality meant Luxembourg had no army, so the German’s walked straight into Luxembourg and took it over. The bloody and infamous Battle of the Bulge was fought on Luxembourg soil. After the second world war Luxembourg relinquished neutrality and joined NATO. It was also one of the founding states of the EU.

Today it is a centre of business and banking (Paypal is one of the business’s to be registered there). It has the greatest concentration of banks within the EU, as well as many holding companies – it is a tax haven.

It is also home to some of the following EU institutions:

The Commission of the European Community, including the Statistical Office (EUROSTAT) and the Publications Office,

The Court of Justice of the European Communities

The general Secretariat of the European Parliament,

The European Investment Bank,

The European Court of Auditors.

The Official Publications Office

The Nuclear Safety Administration,

The Directorate-General of ‘Credits and Investments’

 

News

European Debt Crisis Threatens the Banking System

Economists in Europe now believe the French banking system is days away from requiring re-capitalization, and the Italian banks are not far behind them.

French banks have massive exposure to the European debt crisis, in particular to Greek debt. One of France’s biggest banks, BNP, alone has a eurozone sovereign debt exposure of some €75bn, amounting to roughly 6% of total assets, including €14bn of Greek debt and €21bn of Italian government bonds.

There is continued speculation that the Germans will kick the Greeks out the Eurozone; if this happens Greek debt will be worthless, and the banks will lose their money.

The whole problem is compounded by the lack of clear understanding about how to deal with the crisis as a whole. So far measures have been more like a sticking plaster on a gaping wound, as the victim slowly bleeds to death. Politicians from every European nation have failed to grasp the enormity of the problems they face, and no viable solution has presented itself. This week Barak Obama, as well as the Chinese Premiere, have urged the European leaders to take more responsibility for the crisis and to take decisive action in order to stablize the markets.

Although these issues may all seem very distant – affecting Continental Europe, the Europe problem is the biggest factor influencing global markets at this time. If a sustainable solution is not found and implemented it will not only be the European economy that will crash, it will crash the global economy. This is a time when developed nations have nothing left in their economic arsenal to fight off economic armageddon 1931 style.

With the difficulties facing Europe one could say a miracle is needed. Certainly to steer Europe safely through this crisis, wisdom and conviction are essential on a Biblical scale. We have just witnessed what happens when the mantle on Prophet TV enters a region, in New York hurricanes changed course as soon as the mantle entered the city. Prophet TV has many testimonies of the power on this ministry, to turn economic catastrophe around. This time more than any other, we need God to intervene and show the way ahead. Confidence and faith needs to be returned to Europe, and wisdom prevail in the leaders of the nations of Europe. Support Prophet TV, so these giftings can be brought back into Europe.