Pictures From A Cyprus ATM Line + ECB Regime Gives Cyprus March 25 Liquidity Ultimatum + Euro Regime Official On Cyprus: "Markets Believe We Will Find A Solution, This Might Not Be The Case"

Submitted by Tyler Durden: For a few days, the people of Cyprus were calm, quietly and orderly accepting the unreality of the levy being imposed upon them - incredulous that it was even possible. As we reach the 4th day of bank closures, amid rolling rumors and ECB threats, it appears the people have reached a tipping point as this series of images from Cyprus ATM lines indicates - the bank-jog has arrived. When will it become a full blown sprint?

 Via @Imeldaflattery

It appears the catalyst for this latest move is the ECB threat and EU concerns over the future of the two biggest insolvent banks: As AFP reports:  EU calls on Cyprus to set capital controls and merge 2 biggest banks Laiki and Bank of Cyprus.

• *EU WANTS CYPRUS TO ADOPT MEASURES BEFORE BANKS RE-OPEN, ANSA
• *EU WANTS CYPRUS TO ADOPT MEASURES TO STOP DEPOSIT FLIGHT: ANSA

 
Via NYT

Via Sigma Live

Via @janinel83

Via @jkozakou

Source: Twitter and Fred

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ECB Regime Gives Cyprus March 25 Liquidity Ultimatum

Submitted by Tyler Durden: As reported yesterday, Cyprus banks are now expected to reopen next Tuesday. We would boldly go ahead and take the under following overnight news that the ECB has once more escalated its political interventions (remember the lies about "apolitical, independent" Central Banks - good times...), and following a Reuters report yesterday that the ECB is prepared to let Cyprus go, the FT now has doubled down on the propaganda, reporting (in an article with no less than five authors) that the ECB has issued an ultimatum to Cyprus to agree to a bailout by Monday (which is a holiday), or the free liquidity ends.

"The European Central Bank raised the stakes in the Cyprus crisis on Thursday, telling Nicosia it had until Monday to agree a bailout with the EU and International Monetary Fund or it would cut off emergency liquidity provision to the country’s banks. The hardline stance from the ECB sets a clear deadline for Cyprus to agree to a plan after its parliament rejected a bailout negotiated at the weekend that would have taxed (stolen) the deposits of account holders in the country’s banks." Which means yet another weekend of ad hoc choices and spontaneous decisions awaits, only this time with a key non-Euro actor involved in the face of Russia, whose interest just in case there is any confusion, is to see Cyprus crushed, so it can swoop in later and "acquire" the assets on the cheap, or preferably, while the local population welcome the second coming of the glorious Red Army with open arms, delighted to be free of European slavery. Well played Putin.

From the FT:

The ultimatum came as EU leaders maintained pressure on Nicosia to come up with a new plan on its own and Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev told a visiting European Commission delegation that a solution had to include Russian participation.

“It is now up to the Cypriot authorities to come up with proposals,” Jeroen Dijsselbloem, chair of the committee of 17 eurozone finance ministers who negotiated the bailout, told the European Parliament on Thursday morning.

In a short statement the ECB said its 23-person governing council had agreed to maintain emergency liquidity provision to Cyprus’s banks until Monday. “Thereafter, Emergency Liquidity Assistance could only be considered if an EU-IMF programme is in place that would ensure the solvency of the concerned banks,” it said.

The country’s two biggest banks, Bank of Cyprus and Laiki, are believed to be reliant on Emergency Liquidity Assistance provided by the Central Bank of Cyprus. The ECB’s governing council can terminate ELA if it believes the banks receiving it are no longer solvent.

The move, however, raises the prospect of the ECB having to make good on its ultimatum on Monday, which could leave the banks unable to honour their obligations. Some analysts have speculated that the collapse of the banks could trigger a series of events that lead to Cyprus leaving the euro, with unpredictable consequences for the rest of the eurozone.

Will the ECB really be so stupid as to force the Cypriot bluff? Does Draghi really want to put the OMT into operation, which would inevitably happen once Cyprus is kicked out of the Eurozone, and a pan-European deposit run, which has so far been spared due to lack of tangible evidence that there is an actual "credibility" event in Cyprus due to what may be a permanent bank closure, becomes inevitable?
Most importantly, will the ECB truly shoot itself in the foot once again, and destroy all the so-called confidence it has rebuilt in the past four years on the back of endless promises, threats and urgings?
Tune in this time Monday to find out.

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Edited by WD

Related: Time To Bradley-Manning The Banksters!

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"Markets Believe We Will Find A Solution, This Might Not Be The Case"
Submitted by Tyler Durden: While the market levitation courtesy of the Fed, BIS and BOJ continues unabated to give the impression that all is well, allowing empty momentum-chasing chatterboxes to say that Cyprus is not a big deal because... well, look at the market (and real traders the chance to quietly dump existing risk positions), the artificial, centrally-planned calm during the storm may be ending. The reason comes from none other than the Eurogroup, whose deputy finance ministers held a conference call last night, and whose transcript has been seen by Reuters.
Here are the highlights.

Euro zone finance officials acknowledged being "in a mess" over Cyprus during a conference call on Wednesday and discussed imposing capital controls to insulate the region from a possible collapse of the Cypriot economy.

Not very confidence boosting. But then again, with confidence in Cyprus now gone, the time for damage control is long gone. Sure enough, it just goes from bad to worse:

"The (Cypriot) parliament is obviously too emotional and will not decide on anything, if Cyprus does not even feel that they can attend the call it is a big problem for us," the French representative said, according to the notes seen by Reuters.

"We have never seen this."

"Ring-fencing" is back, and so are Lehman references.

The official also referred to the need to resolve Cyprus's two biggest banks, both of which are close to collapse, and mentioned the possibility of Cyprus leaving the euro zone.

In the event of an exit, the official said steps needed to be taken to "ring-fence" the rest of the euro zone from the impact and to ensure there was no contagion to Greece.

Bad news for locals: your economy is done, so may as well drag the entire Eurozone down with you:

"The economy is going to tank in Cyprus no matter what," the notes quoted him as saying. "Restrictions on capital will probably be imposed," he said, adding that further conference calls would be organised in the coming days.

And the punchline:

"Markets believe that we will find a solution and that we will provide more money and this might not be the case," one of the participants on the call said

Hint to those confused: the market is not at all ignoring Cyprus. The central banks manipulating the market are doing their best to make it seem the market is not affected by a development which not even politicians have any idea how to negate as everything is now in unchartered territory. Of course, if and when control of the market is lost, that's when things get really interesting.

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