It Really Looks Like Greeks Are Hiding Cash Under the Mattress

20-Mar (Bloomberg) — It is no secret that banks in Greece have been losing deposits in recent months.

The question that is somewhat open, though, is where Greeks have been moving their deposits to. Have they been transferring the cash to other banks, or have they been squirreling it away under the mattress—and under bathroom tiles?

At first glance, data from the Bank of Greece seem to point to the deposit transfer option rather than the cash-under-mattress option as the “banknotes in circulation” line item on its balance sheet hasn’t shown any big spike in recent months.

…We can now clearly see there has been a €10 billion increase in cash in Greece in the three months to the end of February 2015.

That is a lot of mattresses.

[source]

PG View: While euros under the mattress is probably better than having one’s savings account converted to a severely devalued drachma (should the worst happen), some gold in the vault would likely prove a much better option.