Momani, Bessma, (2013), “Is Russian Peter Being Used to Pay the Cypriot’s Paul?”, Brookings Institute, 21 March.
Cyprus, a small island of one million people, has very large banks. In fact, the banks have the wealth of eight times the entire Cypriot economy. Obviously, this doesn’t add up and that’s because Cyprus has become an offshore financial centre, offering a haven for money transfers, money laundering, and Internet banks. Foreigners from Russia, worth nearly €20 billion, have been attracted to these lax rules in setting up bank accounts that accompany low corporate tax rates.