Greece, in the middle of its own financial crisis, is teetering on the brink of a default. Many of its wealthier citizens are also uneasy about what lies ahead for their cash. According to estimates from private bankers in Greece and Cyprus, as much as 10 billion euros have left the country for Greek-owned bank subsidiaries in Switzerland and Cyprus in the last couple of months.

Customers are coming...from Greece on a daily basis," says one private banker who works for a Greek bank in Cyprus. "They fly here in the morning, bring us a check and fly back to Athens in the afternoon."

One banker in Athens reports that many of his clients have sent funds out of the country in recent weeks, fearing that the government will take a bigger bite of their money. "They're afraid they'll have to pay tax on their cash," he says.

growing concerns that Greece's financial crisis will spill over to its banking system appear to be driving most of the outflow. The fear isn't totally unfounded: Late last month, Fitch Ratings downgraded the country's four major private-sector banks to two notches above junk status on fears that demand for loans may plunge, denting their potential profitability .

"I'm scared," says one 40-year-old Athenian woman, who's considering taking her nest egg to Cyprus. "I want to take my money out of the country before the banks run out of cash."

The Greek economy is set to shrink by more than expected this year, the government said on Wednesday. Economists and ratings agencies have warned that a sharper than expected slowdown in the economy is one of the biggest threats to Greece's commitment to cut its budget deficit to 2.8 percent of GDP by 2012 from close to 13 percent last year