"There was a one-off write-off of impaired credit card balances by one of the banking groups, " said a spokesman for the British Bankers' Association.

BBC: Credit card bad debt write-offs double

The law was written for two private corporations so that a tax -- so that a corporate raider -- and this happened in the '80s -- would buy one unprofitable corporation, use their tax loss write-off to benefit the profits they were making another corporation.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing

In order to secure the 10bn euros, agreed by the EU and IMF, Cyprus was forced to wind up one major bank and write-off of a large portion of secured debt and uninsured deposits in the largest bank, Bank of Cyprus.

BBC: Cyprus to ease citizenship rules for EU bailout losers