The euro fell against US dollar and Japanese yen on Monday as brief enthusiasm brought on by Cyprus' last-ditch deal with its international lenders swiftly segued into broader fears about the region's banking sector. Euro losses sharply accelerated after Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who heads the Eurogroup, told Reuters and the Financial Times that the rescue program agreed for Cyprus represents a new template for resolving euro zone banking problems and other countries may have to restructure their banking sectors.
The euro was last down 0.8 percent at $1.2874, far below a session high of $1.3048 set after the Cyprus deal was struck and not far from a four-month low of $1.2843 set last Tuesday. The euro was last at 121.28 yen, down 1.2 percent and well below the Asian session high of 123.85 yen. The US dollar was last up 0.3 percent at 94.18 yen, according to Reuters data.