Amidst word that other European banks are urging Greek banks to dump Greek securities, and continued mutterings of Greek contingency plans to nationalize banks, Zero Hedge just tweeted this:
GREECE ISSUES DECREE TO TRANSFER CASH BALANCES TO CENTRAL BANK
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 20, 2015
Not seeing confirmation yet, but if true, those quiet bank runs in Greece are about to stop being quiet…
Update: Here’s Zero Hedge’s post, citing an (unlinked) Bloomberg piece citing internal Greek decree, saying it’s the start of capital controls. If so, bank runs are all but assured…
Update 2: Now seeing news reports saying that Greece is “The Greek government is forcing the country’s municipalities to transfer cash reserves to the Bank of Greece in a bid to shore up its short-term finances, according to officials…The decree on Monday mandates the transfer of cash that is not needed to cover spending in the next 15 days, as Athens continues negotiations with creditors to unlock bailout funds.”
So, no forced bank funds transfers.
Yet.
Tags: European Debt Crisis, Foreign Policy, Greece, Welfare State, Zero Hedge