Last year the EU set aside €3 million to conduct a stress test on Turkish Cypriot banks. There are currently…
I have spent the best part of the last 13 years trying to do my bit for a federal solution of the Cyprus problem, so writing this article feels like committing a cardinal sin.
But for the many and multiplying reasons I have written about elsewhere, time has almost run out for solving the Cyprus problem any time this decade.
In an interview with the Financial Times this week, the finance minister, Harris Georgiades, referring to the Turkish Cypriot banking sector, said “It’s a bit of a wild-west situation. Nobody knows enough about ownership, capitalisation and supervision in the Turkish Cypriot banking system.” Taken at face value, this suggests that there is no information at all on the Turkish Cypriot banks. However, with a little bit of digging and a lot of Google Translate, it is possible to glean some facts about the banks in northern Cyprus.