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Saturday, April 6, 2013
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Co-op rumour spreads panic Massive queues form after reports of deposit haircut at co-op banks By Stefanos Evripidou
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HE GOVERNMENT, Central Bank and Cooperative Movement rushed to calm fears of a new raid on bank deposits yesterday after rumours, texts and reports circulating spread panic among depositors who formed long queues mostly outside cooperative banks. Massive lines of people formed outside cooperative banks across the country seeking ways to either get their money out or divide their fixed deposit accounts into smaller ones of under €100,000 following the circulation of text messages claiming the government was about to impose a haircut on cooperative bank deposits. Other depositors whose fixed deposit accounts had yet to mature but who also heard the rumours turned up simply to withdraw the €300 maximum amount permitted from their accounts. Head of the Cooperative Central Bank Erotocritos Chlorakiotis yesterday assured the public that deposits at the cooperative credit institutions were safe, insisting that the rumours of a haircut were completely “unfounded”. He said the run on cooperative banks was a result of two develop-
ments: the untrue text messages going around the last few days and a misleading news article posted on a television channel website yesterday morning. Chlorakiotis explained that rumours of a haircut culminated yesterday morning as a result of a misinterpretation of discussions between the government and unions about how to save provident funds deposited in the Bank of Cyprus (BOC) and Laiki. One television channel had posted an article yesterday referring to discussions between the government and unions on preparing a bill regarding the provident funds deposited in BOC and Laiki. The cooperative banker said the article failed to specify the difference between beneficiaries of the provident fund of up to €100,000 which are insured and beneficiaries of over €100,000 for which they are preparing a formula of a scaled haircut. In other words, the effort is to treat Laiki workers’ provident funds in the same way that deposits in BOC are being handled, that is, with up to 60 per cent wiped out and partly exchanged for shares in Bank of Cyprus. However, the article in question omitted to refer specifically to the beneficiaries of the two banks’ provident funds,
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Screen grab from state broadcaster CyBC shows dozens of people lined up outside a co-op branch in Nicosia yesterday after a text message caused panic
Passengers’ body weight fixes air ticket price A SAMOAN airline that says it is the world’s first carrier to charge passengers by their weight rather than per seat defends the plan as the fairest way to fly, in some cases actually ending up cheaper than conventional tickets. Samoa Air, which opened in 2012, asks passengers to declare their personal weight during booking, which is then charged per kilogram (2.2 lb) at a rate dependent on flight length. The customers will also be weighed at the check-in counter. “The industry has this concept that all people throughout the world are the same size,” Samoa Air CEO Chris Langton told Reuters. “Aeroplanes always run on weight, irrespec-
tive of seats.” “There is no doubt in my mind that this is the concept of the future. This is the fairest way of you travelling with your family, or yourself.” Though the airline instituted the plan last November, it caught attention last week when the carrier began international flights to neighbouring American Samoa and coincided with the publication of a report by a Norwegian economist suggesting that airlines should charge obese passengers more. The Pacific Islands contain some of the world’s most prevalent countries for obesity, many ranking in the top 10, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).