Though the implosion of Cyprus’s bloated banking system has put other eurozone economies with oversized financial sectors such as Luxembourg and Malta in the spotlight, loan quality is the real litmus test of a country’s financial stability.

Cyprus’ president has said that he will ask the European Union to provide more help for the crisis-hit country, which has to pay for most of its expected €23bn bailout.

Russia won’t bail out people or companies that stand to lose money held at Cyprus’s two largest banks, first deputy prime minister Igor Shuvalov said.

Bank of Cyprus savers with more than €100,000 could face losing up to 60%, Central Bank and Finance Ministry officials said today.

Cyprus averted panic withdrawals as banks opened yesterday for the first time in almost two weeks, with government controls on access to cash leading to orderly lines rather than runs on deposits.

Restrictions on financial transactions in Cyprus could be fully lifted in a month, Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides says.

Banks in Cyprus have reopened to customers for the first time in nearly two weeks, with people now able to access their accounts, albeit with strict restrictions on transactions.

Banks in Cyprus will open today for the first time in more than a week – with tough restrictions to prevent people from draining their accounts.

The other day, a European politician suggested the integrity of the euro was being called into question by the troika’s response to the crisis in Cyprus.

Unlike the difficulties Cyprus encountered when trying to levy bank deposits, our Government’s raid on pension funds here was carried out almost without incident, writes Joe Brennan

The chief executive of Bank of Cyprus has been sacked by the central bank governor as part of an international bailout deal.

Cypriot businesses are under increasing strain to keep running after financial authorities stretched the country’s bank closure into a second week in a bid to stop depositors rushing to drain their accounts.

Thousands of students and bank workers protested in Nicosia yesterday as banks stayed shut to stop a run on deposits after the island agreed a painful bailout to avert bankruptcy.

Michael Sarris, the Cypriot finance minister, sought to muffle calls for the country to weigh a precedent-setting exit from the euro to ease the economic pain inflicted by its €10bn bailout.

Cypriot businesses are under increasing strain to keep running after financial authorities stretched the country’s bank closure into a second week in a bid to stop depositors rushing to drain their accounts.

Banks across Cyprus remain firmly padlocked after financial authorities extended the country’s blanket closure, fearing worried depositors will rush to drain their accounts.

Cypriot state media is reporting that the chairman of the Bank of Cyprus has resigned over the country's bailout deal.

All banks in Cyprus will remain shut until Thursday, the country’s finance minister has ordered.

Cyprus has clinched a last-minute solution to imminent financial meltdown by agreeing to take up to almost half of the bank savings of the wealthiest.

As the dust settles on Cypriot bailout talks, the break in the link between the sovereign and the banks marks the beginning of a brave new and more stringent world for the eurozone, writes Europe correspondent Ann Cahill

All banks in Cyprus will remain shut until Thursday, the country’s finance minister has decreed.

Cyprus’s president says the central bank will impose some limits on bank transactions tomorrow when most of the country’s financial institutions reopen for the first time in more than a week.

Cyprus has clinched a last-minute solution to imminent financial meltdown by agreeing to take up to almost half of the bank savings of the wealthiest, and avoided a disastrous exit from the eurozone, according to the country's finance minister.

Cyprus secured a €10bn package of rescue loans in tense negotiations early today, saving the country from a banking system collapse and bankruptcy.

A powerful firecracker has been detonated inside a branch of the Bank of Cyprus, the country’s largest lender.

Cyprus and its international creditors have agreed on the key elements of an agreement that paves the way for the nation to receive a €10 billion bailout.

Cypriot politicians turned to the European Union today in a last-ditch effort to help their island nation forge a viable plan to secure an international bailout after failing for a week to find a solution to a crisis that could force their country into bankruptcy.

It has been confirmed that savings accounts in Cyprus holding more than €100,000 will be hit by a controversial levy.

Cypriot MPs are due to vote today on a raft of new measures they hope will qualify the country for a bailout package and avoid financial ruin next week. But officials in Brussels and Berlin gave no indication it would be enough.

MPs in Cyprus are expected to vote on a new proposal to radically restructure the island's banking sector, as it teeters on the brink of financial collapse.

As Cypriot politicians raced to find a new financial rescue plan ahead of a Monday deadline, tensions built in the streets of the capital. Residents withdrew what money they could from ATMs amid fears the banks could collapse.

People with Cyprus bank accounts will lose up to 10% of their savings as the price of a €10bn rescue package for the cash-strapped country from its European partners and the International Monetary Fund.

Ireland has an ally in refusing to increase its low corporation tax rate, with Cyprus insisting it must not be forced to raise its rate as a condition of its bailout.

Major banks and pension funds threw their weight behind Greece’s bond swap offer to private creditors yesterday, making it increasingly likely that the deal will go through and clear the way for a bailout package to avert a chaotic default.

International ratings agency Moody’s has downgraded Cyprus’s three most Greece-exposed commercial banks because of the country’s diminished ability to back them up.