Bank of Cyprus savers to exchange 20% of deposits with shares

A bailout agreement for Cyprus expected to be announced soon provides for a partial swap of deposits in the Bank of Cyprus with bank shares, sources close to the ongoing bailout talks said late Saturday.Prodromos Prodromou, a ruling DISY party parliamentarian, said that under an agreement between Cypriot authorities and European Union and International Monetary Fund negotiators, 20 percent of deposits over 100,000 euros (about 129,000 U.S. dollars) will be exchanged with bank stock.He also said that a plan under consideration provides for a merger involving the Bank of Cyprus and the "good" part of the Cyprus Popular Bank which will take over guaranteed deposits below 100,000 euros and good debts.It is still unclear if depositors in other banks will take a loss, as the agreement is still being debated at a meeting of parliamentary party leaders under President Nicos Anastasiades.Still unconfirmed reports suggested that deposits of over 100,000 euros in other lenders except Bank of Cyprus will be burdened with a 4-percent levy. It is also still unclear whether this levy will be imposed on deposits in about 26 foreign banks operating in Cyprus. (1 euro = 1.29 U.S. dollars)