Swiss National Bank

An open letter by Peter Koenig, an economist, geopolitical analyst and a former World Bank staff:

Dearest and Esteemed People of Greece,

Jorgovanka Tabakovic has said that "if there is no major turbulence, Serbia will have absolute price stability in the next several years."

Dear Prime Minister Tsipras,

First, congratulations for mustering the popular support to say “no” to the troika. The euro has long offered Greece a perverse incentive to borrow, and now your country is trapped in debt. By any conventional means, Greece cannot repay (I propose an unconventional way, below). The sooner everyone acknowledges this simple fact the better.

The National Bank of Serbia, NBS, on February 25 told commercial banks they must allow customers with loans in Swiss francs to repay their mortgages in euros, at lower interest rates, or with lower monthly repayment rates.

"The NBS estimates that implementation of this decision would significantly relieve the situation of borrowers.

"Minimal intervention to solve Swiss franc problem"

DAVOS -- Serbia will act with a minimum state intervention to solve problems related to Swiss franc loans, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has said.

He made the statement on Thursday, while taking part in the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

DAVOS - Serbia will act with a minimum state intervention to solve problems related to Swiss franc loans, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos on Thursday.

By Jonathan Morgan

European stocks halted a four-day rally that took them to a seven-year high.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slipped less than 0.1 percent to 355.8 at 11:27 a.m. in London, with the Swiss Market Index falling 1.6 percent after a two-day rebound.

Cypriot lenders Bank of Cyprus and Hellenic Bank said on Tuesday they had no material impact from the Swiss National Bank?s decision to scrap its cap on the Swiss franc against the euro.

Bank of Cyprus, the country?s largest lender, said its lending exposure in Swiss francs totaled 1.09 billion euros on December 31, representing 4.6 percent of total gross loans.

Croatia has stepped in to help borrowers with increasingly expensive loans in Swiss francs by freezing the exchange rate for a year.

Since last Thursday, the exchange rate of the franc to Croatian kuna has risen by about 20 per cent.

Volksbank Romania announced on Monday that it would maintain, for a period of three months (from January 20 through April 17, 2015) a flat exchange rate of 3.8035 lei for one Swiss franc, for the payments of the next three monthly installments owed by customers.

Photo credit: (c) Gabriel PETRESCU / AGERPRES ARCHIVE