More European governments followed Germany's lead on Monday offering blanket deposit guarantees to savers in a frantic effort to calm fears among investors over the worst financial crisis in 80 years. In the banking industry, France's BNP Paribas scooped up the assets of Fortis in Belgium and Luxembourg for 14.5 bln euros ($19.71 bln) to
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World stocks dived to three-year lows on Monday as investors fled to government bonds and the low-yielding yen, fearing efforts by policymakers to contain the credit crisis might not be enough to prevent a recession. Oil fell nearly 4 percent to 8-month troughs while emerging stocks tumbled 5 percent as the fallout from the worst
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President of the Republic of Cyprus Demetris Christofias believes that there is no “impressive progress” at the direct talks he is engaged in with the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community, Mehmet Ali Talat. However, the President also points out that it is early days in the ongoing talks and one must not express pessimism
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Cyprus and Bulgaria signed here today a protocol on enhanced Cooperation to further improve bilateral relations. The protocol was signed by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Cyprus and Bulgaria, Markos Kyprianou and Ivailo Kalfin respectively, in the presence of the Presidents of both countries, Demetris Christofias and Georgi Parvanov, at the Presidential House of
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Germany has abandoned plans to handle its domestic banking problems on a case-by-case basis and is now considering a nationwide umbrella to shield its entire financial industry from damaging turmoil in the markets. Speaking on Monday after pushing through a weekend rescue for German lender Hypo Real Estate <HRXG.DE> and announcing a federal guarantee of
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By Jeremy Gaunt and Noah Barkin (Reuters) More European governments followed Germany's lead on Monday offering blanket deposit guarantees to savers in a frantic effort to calm fears among investors over the worst financial crisis in 80 years. In the banking industry, France's BNP Paribas scooped up the assets of Fortis in Belgium and Luxembourg
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The British government promised on Monday it would not leave ordinary savers unprotected in the current financial crisis but said it had no plans to respond immediately to a surprise move by Germany to guarantee deposits. Junior Treasury Minister Yvette Cooper said London was awaiting clarification on the move, which would put intense pressure on
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European shares extended losses on Monday to slump more than 5 percent as concerns about the health of the financial sector mounted and several governments stepped in to rescue banks and ordinary depositors. A $700 billion package to rescue the U.S. financial sector, passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on its second try on
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Cyprus President Demetris Christofias has assured that the government has a plan to protect small businesses in Cyprus from the international financial crisis, noting that the Council of Ministers has recently taken relevant decisions. Speaking at Larnaca Airport before departing for Bulgaria and asked if the government would be protecting small enterprises, as the four
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The German government announced that it will guarantee all private German bank deposits, covering both existing accounts and future ones. Details of the new scheme are unclear, but apparently it will replace the current protection scheme, which guarantees 90 percent of all bank deposits but only up to EUR20,000 per account. This announcement follows commitments
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