Large depositors in the Bank of Cyprus will get back 37.5 percent of their money in shares instead of cash, the Bank of Cyprus has confirmed. The move is the part of the painful Cyprus rescue package.

Under the new conditions, Bank of Cyprus clients with accounts with over 100,000 euros in deposits will be offered shares instead of cash in the bank for 37.5 percent of their deposits. Those under the 100,000 mark will reportedly not be required to participate in the scheme.

Authorities had previously predicted a loss to big depositors of 30 to 40 percent. Anger is mounting in the country as Cypriots protest the dissolving of the second-largest bank – Cyprus Popular Bank, also known as Laiki – and what they are calling a theft of their assets.

Under the terms of the deal, the assets of Laiki bank will be transferred to Bank of Cyprus.

At Bank of Cyprus, about 22.5 percent of deposits over 100,000 euros will earn no interest. The rest of the account will generate interest, but will not be repaid until the bank shows a strong performance.

Daniel Wagner, CEO of Country Risk Solutions, says the latter is very unlikely to happen.

“If the bank can pull a rabbit out of a hat, and somehow make what appears to be near worthless shares somehow very valuable, then these depositors have some hope that they’ll be receiving some of their money back,” Wagner told RT

Those with deposits less than 100,000 euros will be protected under the Cyprus deposit guarantee.

On Friday, Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades defended the 10-billion euro bailout deal agreed with the EU five days ago saying it would stabilize the country.

"We have no intention of leaving the euro," adding "in no way will we experiment with the future of our country," Anastasiades said.

But Wagner questions if the integrity of the banks and indeed government policies can withstand such harsh measures.

“If this can somehow be properly managed and people have some kind of degree of confidence in the process, fine, then all of this can be kept together. But if not, this could well be a slow steady deterioration throughout the continent about the value of an average bank deposit.”

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