Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Cyprus fallout: over half of Germans doubt deposit guarantee

Reuters reports that according to a survey by Stern magazine over half of Germans doubt that their government will honor its deposit guarantee.

At a minimum, this suggests how big the blow was to trust and confidence in the EU financial system caused by the decision to bail-in depositors to pay for the losses hidden on bank balance sheets.

Regular readers know that ultimately there is only one way to restore trust and confidence in the financial system: bring transparency to all the opaque corners of the financial system.

For banks, this means that they will have to disclose on an ongoing basis their current global asset, liability and off-balance sheet exposure details.  It is only with this disclosure that market participants can see the true condition of these banks.

As predicted at the beginning of the financial crisis by your humble blogger, until transparency is brought to all the opaque corners of the financial system, the global economy will continue in a downward spiral (even with central banks and governments pursuing stimulative policies).

According to a recent survey commissioned by the magazine "Stern" 54 percent of Germans believe the promise of the Chancellor no longer that savings are safe in Germany.  
Conversely, only 41 percent trust their warranty.  
67 percent of Germans are great or at least a little worried about their savings. 
Because of the initially planned compulsory levy on Cypriot bank deposits under € 100,000 Merkel reaffirmed their guarantee for German savers last week over government spokesman Steffen Seibert. "It is the mark of a guarantee that it is," he said. Cyprus is a special case.  

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