So How Safe Are Bank Deposits?

If you thought that by ensuring that you kept your money in scheduled banks only and in a way that the deposits were fully covered by deposit insurance, your money would be safe,think again.

Its not impossible that what is happening in Cyprus could happen to you too.You can catch up with the Cyprus story here:Link

Apparently this is not the first instance of a deposit levy.Here are some other examples:

1.In July 1992 Italy’s Socialist Prime Minister Giuliano Amato imposed a one-off levy of 0.6% on bank accounts.And again there are calls to repeat the action in Italy to tackle the national debt.

2.In 1936 Norway experimented with a bank deposit tax.

3.Brazil in 1992.

4. Argentina at the turn of the millennium etc.

NB:Here’s an excellent post to read on capital levies.Link

And as an aside,think about what is happening to the Russian depositors in Cyprus.So how safe are offshore accounts?