The news that the euro zone wants bank depositors in Cyprus to contribute towards a bailout is surprising even given the ongoing European debt crisis, Jim O'Neill, chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, told CNBC on Monday.
"I'm still trying to get my head around [it]," O'Neill said in a "Squawk Box" interview. He added that Cyprus won't be able to "put the Genie back in the bottle" despite whether or not the depositor hair-cut gets approval.
"This is a biggie, in my opinion," O'Neill said. "I think my biggest concern with this is not whether or not this ultimately gets done, not that the idea that Cyprus would come up with something like this, but that the EU (European Union) would back it and go along these things."
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