The founding fathers of the Bank of Cyprus would surely be horrified at the turn of events.

“Thrift” and “savings” for little people were the Victorian watchwords in the 1890s.

At first (1894) the Imperial Ottoman Savings Banks opened special interest savings accounts for small savers in Cyprus.

Soon after the Nicosia Savings Bank was formed in 1899. This finally morphed into the Bank of Cyprus.

Now small savers have been crushed by events; the “haircut” and now the possible sale of the bank to private equity.

Private equity has a narrow viewpoint focussed on benefit and certainly not on the little people.

O tempora, o mores!

Jonathan Reddaway, Nicosia