How safe is the Euro?

noelma

Things are looking pretty dismal for us! The recent decision to apply for a multi billion bail out will increase our national debt big time. At the same time, our government (whoever that will be!!) will have to cut expenditure and raise taxes to try and balance the budget. Interest payments on our national debt aggravate the problem. So, very likely we will be hit badly with reduced services and increased taxation.
But what about our savings? I have about €150k on deposit with Rabo. What are the risks?
If Ireland was about to be kicked out of the Euro zone, or if the Euro zone was going to collapse, I doubt ordinary punters would find out until too late!
Would I be safer in Swiss francs, Norwegian kroner or something? If so how do I go about doing that? I certainly would not want a foreign currency account in an Irish bank. Rabo only do Euro.
Maybe I am just being paranoid - but then who would have believed we could be where we are anyway!!

irishh_bob

noelma wrote: »

Things are looking pretty dismal for us! The recent decision to apply for a multi billion bail out will increase our national debt big time. At the same time, our government (whoever that will be!!) will have to cut expenditure and raise taxes to try and balance the budget. Interest payments on our national debt aggravate the problem. So, very likely we will be hit badly with reduced services and increased taxation.
But what about our savings? I have about €150k on deposit with Rabo. What are the risks?
If Ireland was about to be kicked out of the Euro zone, or if the Euro zone was going to collapse, I doubt ordinary punters would find out until too late!
Would I be safer in Swiss francs, Norwegian kroner or something? If so how do I go about doing that? I certainly would not want a foreign currency account in an Irish bank. Rabo only do Euro.
Maybe I am just being paranoid - but then who would have believed we could be where we are anyway!!

heres some advice based on personal experience

if you decide to open an account outside the state , hsbc is easy to set up with ( branch in portadown and belfast ) but make sure you transfer into sterling before you transfer , they give lousy exchange rates , i lost several hundred euro on a 50 k transfer by not asking boi to put it into sterling 1st

hsbc also have an offshore account service for those who want to hold money in the likes of swiss francs , canadian dollars , australian dollars etc , however , this means transfering to thier holding account ( which is in sterling ) 1st so even you put it in sterling 1st , they will give your a crap rate when changing to swiss francs etc , baschically the only way to avoid being squeezed by them is to open a sterling account with them and transfer in sterling to them

having your money with rabbo wont save you if ireland leaves the euro btw

Lennoxschips

I have my Euros in a Rabobank branch in Amsterdam. I used to live there so use that account. They are the only AAA consumer bank in the world, I think. When the Dutch announced their bank guarantee there a couple of years ago, Rabobank politely refused to take part. If countries get kicked out of the Euro then the Netherlands would be the last. And if the Euro disappears altogether the Dutch Guilder would be pegged to the D-Mark again. So I figure it's a good place. I now live in Sweden so have Krona also.

Jim2007

Lennoxschips wrote: »

I have my Euros in a Rabobank branch in Amsterdam. I used to live there so use that account. They are the only AAA consumer bank in the world, I think. When the Dutch announced their bank guarantee there a couple of years ago, Rabobank politely refused to take part.

I have to say that I find the whole Rabobank thing a bit complicated - from their website:

Rabobank Group is comprised of 143 independent local Rabobanks plus Rabobank Nederland, their umbrella organisation, and a number of subsidiaries

From this and further reading it would appear that the Group itself is AAA, but the individual 143 branches in the Netherlands are not, thus having your money in a Dutch branch may turn out not to be the same as having it with the group company!

In Ireland there also seems to be two entities in operation Rabodirect and Rabobank, Rabodirect is mentioned in several places as having Irish/Dutch guarantees, but nothing on Rabobank so far.....



Jim.

Lennoxschips

Rabobank started as something similar to a credit union, and the branches officially still own the Rabobank umbrella group. But nowadays it is pretty much a centralised bank.

noelma

Why am I not surprised? If you are a major institution, or a bank (of course), you can flit in and out of currencies at the drop of a hat (or a dollar, pound or Euro!!:rolleyes:) but a private citizen?? Heaven forbid we should have such facilities! :mad:

TripleAce

irishh_bob wrote: »

having your money with rabbo wont save you if ireland leaves the euro btw

the more I read here and the more confused I get

I also have about a good amount of money in the saving account with RaboDirect.ie....I thought this is still considered a Dutch Bank and covered by Dutch Government?

Also, stupid question...if Ireland leaves the Euro, I still have my Euros that I can transfer out to foreign banks and use them abroad at any time....or they would just disappear from my accounts?

So unless I travel to non-Euro countries, nothing really changes if the Euro collapse as within the EU it can be spent as we do today...am I missing something?

TripleAce

Just wonder if somebody has tried this Term Deposit with Barclays?

http://www.barclayswealth.com/international/savings/short-medium-savings-category/new-client-term-deposit.htm

It looks interesting 2.5% interest on 12 months (EUR and USD accounts) and I guess Barclays is a pretty safe bank!

LevelSpirit

Have we learned nothing.
No bank is safe.

TripleAce

TripleAce wrote: »

Just wonder if somebody has tried this Term Deposit with Barclays?

http://www.barclayswealth.com/international/savings/short-medium-savings-category/new-client-term-deposit.htm

It looks interesting 2.5% interest on 12 months (EUR and USD accounts) and I guess Barclays is a pretty safeR than the average?

Fixed my post.

TripleAce

Going back this: http://www.barclayswealth.com/international/savings/short-medium-savings-category/new-client-term-deposit.htm

They offer the possibility to open savings accounts in Euro, USD and £££ ....if I decide, just to diversify, to open a saving account in USD, would banks rip me off when converting the money from USD into Euro and viceversa on the way back or the charge will be minimal? I don't want to lose 5% or more in exchange rate....

Shutuplaura

I live outside europe. Basically I have a physical amount of euro notes in my possession. What happens these if the Euro dissolves? Do these become worthless or can I convert to one of the old Eurozone's new currencies?

Leave aside the option to convert them to my local currency for the moment, I'm aware of that option of course. I would ideal like to hang onto them until I get a chance to deposit them into a European bank sometime next year.

OfflerCrocGod

noelma wrote: »

Why am I not surprised? If you are a major institution, or a bank (of course), you can flit in and out of currencies at the drop of a hat (or a dollar, pound or Euro!!:rolleyes:) but a private citizen?? Heaven forbid we should have such facilities! :mad:

IGMarkets.

OfflerCrocGod

Shutuplaura wrote: »

I live outside europe. Basically I have a physical amount of euro notes in my possession. What happens these if the Euro dissolves? Do these become worthless or can I convert to one of the old Eurozone's new currencies?

Leave aside the option to convert them to my local currency for the moment, I'm aware of that option of course. I would ideal like to hang onto them until I get a chance to deposit them into a European bank sometime next year.

They could be become worthless. Best to sell them. Sell all your €.

professore

OfflerCrocGod wrote: »

They could be become worthless. Best to sell them. Sell all your €.

Any currency could become worthless. If the euro does the world will be so f**ked up it will be the least of your worries. Buy gold or other tangible assets I suppose if you are that worried about it.

WildBoots

BUY COMMODITIES!!! Buy gold and silver coins and stocks. Buy land. Buy energy and agricultural stocks. Make sure to have all money out of your bank account before the run on the banks on Dec 7th!!!!

TripleAce

WildBoots wrote: »

BUY COMMODITIES!!! Buy gold and silver coins and stocks. Buy land. Buy energy and agricultural stocks. Make sure to have all money out of your bank account before the run on the banks on Dec 7th!!!!

why Dec 7th? I need at least a couple of weeks more...can they wait?

Slimity

WildBoots wrote: »

BUY COMMODITIES!!! Buy gold and silver coins and stocks. Buy land. Buy energy and agricultural stocks. Make sure to have all money out of your bank account before the run on the banks on Dec 7th!!!!

Are you being serious here or tongue in cheek?

You realise that its statements like this that cause scaremongering and people to actually move their money, thus perpetuating the run.

Any evidence on why this run should happen? Banks are getting liquidity from ECB until bailout fund materialises.

WildBoots

Slimity wrote: »

Are you being serious here or tongue in cheek?

You realise that its statements like this that cause scaremongering and people to actually move their money, thus perpetuating the run.

Any evidence on why this run should happen? Banks are getting liquidity from ECB until bailout fund materialises.

Whether there's a run or not on that date, everything I have bar a few quid is invested in commodities.

irishh_bob

WildBoots wrote: »

BUY COMMODITIES!!! Buy gold and silver coins and stocks. Buy land. Buy energy and agricultural stocks. Make sure to have all money out of your bank account before the run on the banks on Dec 7th!!!!

december 7th is a lifetime away in the current crisisi , the deal on our loan will be long closed by that stage , if the banks collapse , it will be well before that

WildBoots

You never know!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9BiOUJYPsI

ixus

It's funny, when the euro was at 1.18 against the USD or, when Greece had teh IMF called in, there was little panic. Now, we're in the 1.30's and panic is on.

I honestly can't tell you the outcome of the sheer panic that is out there at the moment. I've been expecting it for a long time so I'm pretty calm about it all. The ECB/EU will do all they can to halt events at Ireland because Spain is the biggy. Equally, I believe that Ireland is being used as a pawn by the Germans and French to lower the euro. It's working a treat though the rate of decline in the space of three weeks is pretty remarkable.

@Wildboots: I'd prefer it if you started a thread about your thoughts on the euro or whatever it is you want to comment on. You've posted a heap of panicked posts this evening. All one liners. Put an argument together and start a thread if you really want to get peoples attention.

Ixus

Dodd

ixus wrote: »

@Wildboots: I'd prefer it if you started a thread about your thoughts on the euro or whatever it is you want to comment on. You've posted a heap of panicked posts this evening. All one liners. Put an argument together and start a thread if you really want to get peoples attention.

Ixus

I would have banned him by now but.?