Bank of Cyprus said the bailed-out nation's central bank had decided to suspend operations at all 14 of the lender's branches in Romania to explore the possibility of a sale. Until the branches reopen, clients may use the ATM network.

For its part, Romania's central bank told Reuters: "We have negotiated with them a good solution aimed at protecting depositors in the Romanian-based units. By halting operations for one week in Romania, the Bank of Cyprus envisages identifying a buyer for the Romanian unit. The buyer will take over all its activities here including deposits."

Depositors in Bank of Cyprus will lose around 60 percent of any savings over 100,000 euros, the country's central bank confirmed on Saturday, under the terms of the bailout.

Depositors in Romania "will suffer no loss from their deposits following the unit's sale," said the Romanian central bank's Adrian Vasilescu, an adviser to the bank's governor.

Two of Cyprus's banks operate in Romania: Bank of Cyprus and Marfin, a unit of Popular Bank of Cyprus, which is also known as Laiki. Together the two control less than 1.3 percent of assets in the Balkan country's banking system.

Romania's central bank said it had been notified.

The freeze on the local operations of the Cypriot banks was greeted with scorn by people in Romania, however.

"I'm revolted," businessman Laurentiu Vama said as he took out cash at an ATM in Bucharest. "I'm not a black market currency dealer to carry cash with me. This is practically blocking my business as a consultant for EU fund projects."

(Reporting by Radu Marinas and Bogdan Cristel; Editing by Hugh Lawson)