CEO of ailing Cyprus bank slams government Plan B

NICOSIA: The chief of ailing Cyprus Popular Bank, the island's second largest, Friday slammed the government's "Plan B" to win an EU bailout, saying an earlier plan to tax deposits would have been preferable.

"Although we knew the gravity of the situation, and the initial proposal of the Eurogroup was painful, it ensured the future of the banking sector," Takis Phidias told state radio.

The original terms of a rescue plan for Cyprus proposed by the troika of international lenders would have slapped a levy of up to 9.9 percent on bank deposits. It was overwhelmingly rejected by parliament, leaving the government scrambling to put together a Plan B.