Nearly one week after Italy’s BNI froze their customer’s accounts an Italian news source finally confirms that the accounts of thirty thousand customers have been frozen.

Nearly a week ago news started spreading on the internet through blogs and online discussion forums that Italy’s BNI had froze their customer’s accounts citing a difficult financial situation.

Major Italian Bank Freezes All Customer Accounts

‘Financial difficulties’ force Bank Network Investments SpA (BNI) to begin a Bank Of Italy authorized freeze on all customer accounts.

On May 31st Bank Network Investments discretely posted an announcement on their website that they would be freezing all of their customers accounts for 1 month freeze on citing financial difficulties.

The announcement was posted and the bank gave customers 7 days to act before the Bank of Italy approved freeze went into effect.

The bank’s customers are saying they were completely unaware of the notice being posted and are just now finding out about it when they go to the bank or the ATM for the first time.

The media certainly hasn’t reported on it and news of the freeze is only now starting to make its way around the internet after a complaint was posted on the popular Italian consumer rights website Adiconsum along with a photo of a shutdown ATM.

The freezing of the customer’s deposits, in a nation that apparently doesn’t have a mechanism like the FDIC to insure customer deposits against losses, has sent a shockwaves of terror across Italy raising fears that other customers will lose their deposits entirely.

In turn speculation is growing that other banks in Italy and across Europe may soon suffer the same fate as Europe officials announce they are planning ATM and Bank withdrawal restrictions to deal with a Greece exits from the Euro.

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As I noted there was no news coverage on the incident, but plenty of people posting online that their access to their funds, ATM, and credit cards had simply been cancelled and they have been left high and dry.

Now, nearly a week later Il Sole 24 Ore in Italy is reporting that 30,000 customers have had their accounts completely frozen.

They have also posted a video report of the customer account freezings.

As the bank runs in Greece have now grown to $1 billion a day the BBC is now asking if it is game over for Greece and warning that every bank account in Greece may face being frozen just like the accounts of BNI customers.

It is not just the Greeks who need to worry because European officials have announced they are planning Europe wide bank withdrawal restrictions to deal with the Greece crisis.

As Greece heads into the elections this weekend’s the candidate ahead in the polls has vowed to reject Greece’s current bailout package, calling it predatory and unfair.

Such a rejection would lead to the nation, that already can’t afford to even keep electricity running, to be forced out of the Euro.

Due to the expected chaos that is expected to occur this weekend some companies have announced they foresee a major market event and will be suspending  currency trading accounts of investors.

While the excuse is they don’t want their customers to be subject to the trading risks of the extreme volatility that is expected to occur during the election, the truth is if the EURO start sinking they don’t want retail investors to dump their positions and add to the crash.

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