Geir Haarde, Iceland’s prime minister, said Sunday that he hoped to announce at least a partial rescue package for his country’s banking sector before markets opened Monday. Haarde spoke after emergency talks with central bankers, pension funds and banks on Sunday as Iceland looked overseas for funding to shore up its crisis-ridden financial system. Pension funds were being urged to repatriate foreign assets, while the country’s central bank was seeking to bolster its forex reserves. The government may announce moves to inject several billion euros into the central bank, said people close to the talks, although they warned there was no certainty a deal would be reached or that it would reassure markets. Haarde on Sunday met bank executives, including the chief executive of Kaupthing, Iceland’s biggest bank, to discuss ways to ease the crisis, which has seen the Icelandic krona slide and led to the quasi-nationalisation of Glitnir, the country’s third largest bank. However Haarde did not comment on suggestions that Kaupthing might take over Landsbanki, its smaller rival.

This entry was posted by Gwen Robinson on Monday, October 6th, 2008 at 5:39 and is filed under Capital markets. Tagged with Glitnir, iceland, kaupthing. Edit this entry.