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’Iceland’s bank-berg, what lurked beneath (part II)
Continued from part I, in which FT Alphaville first discusses a portion of the investigative report into Iceland’s banking collapse written by Mark J Flannery.
In 2006, something very worrying for the Icelandic banking system took place.
Iceland’s bank-berg, what lurked beneath (part I)
In a word — quite possibly insolvency.
The full English version of the investigative report into Iceland’s banking collapse is not yet available on the special committee’s website, due to “unexpected difficulties.”
KPMG, PwC raided in Iceland probe
Police have raided the offices of KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers in Reykjavik, seizing documents and computer data as part of a probe into alleged criminal activity at three collapsed Icelandic banks,
Lex: Iceland’s rehabilitation
Iceland’s plan to save its banks looks good on the surface, but there are at least three problems with it.
First, the agreement to compensate British and Dutch retail savers the $5.5bn they deposited in internet bank Icesave requires parliament’s approval.
Come friendly banks and fall on Stroud
FT Alphaville has seen a copy of Stroud District Council’s internal audit report, detailing the fact that the council lost £3m through investments in failed Icelandic bank Glitnir.
The council has already been good enough to provide the unwashed with an executive summary of its report,
CDS update: Euphoria fades
A fresh batch of disappointing data in Europe and poor results from two major US financial guarantors weighed on sentiment in the market for credit default swaps on Wednesday, sending spreads wider on both sides of the Atlantic.
UK and Iceland clash on crisis
Tensions between Britain and Iceland soared Thursday night after the nationalisation of the Nordic country’s largest banks put close to £800m of local authority money at risk and prompted Gordon Brown to threaten to seize the assets of Icelandic companies.
How much for this fjord?
What to do when your country’s banking sector and exchange rate look like this?
Iceland is looking to downsize its banking industry altogether.
Yesterday we learned the arctic state may or may not be getting a €4bn loan from the Russians and may also be considering pegging the crown to the euro at 131/euro (however,
Iceland moves to prevent bank meltdown
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,
The news from Iceland: þetta er búið (Updated)
Treat with some scepticism the reassuring sounds from Iceland’s banks, politicians and leading companies. Listen to my man in Reykjavik.They are fighting powers that they are powerless to fight. It’s like tackling a storm raging in the sea with a teaspoon.
How do you say “This sucker is going down” in Icelandic? (Updated)
Whispers, unanswered telephone calls, stone-walling, firm “no comments”… Something was up in Iceland on Friday.
The immediate focus was Kaupthing – one of Iceland’s two largest banks. The price of its CDS has now spiked through 2500bp,
CDS report: fragile markets
European credit default swap markets tightened on Thursday amid light flows as the financial crunch continues to hit liquidity.
The market followed equities, which pushed higher on the back of rising banking stocks following the passage of the $700bn bail-out package through the US Senate.
The Crunch lands on Britain’s high street
From banking to shopping, the contagion of credit problems on Monday looked set to travel straight through to some of the best known names in British retailing.
Stodir, formerly known as FL Group and an indirect investment vehicle of Icelandic entrepreneur Jon Asgeir Johannesson,
Another nationalisation…
The Icelandic government has taken a 75 per cent stake in troubled bank Glitnir.
In ancient Norse mythology, Glitnir (meaning shining) is the beautiful palace where Forseti, the God of justice, peace and truth,
Euroland’s niche finance
Whereas the UK’s banking giants find themselves turning to rights issues, continental neighbours (with a couple of exceptions) are still having some success in the debt markets.
Most prominently, of course,
Iceland’s top banks rebound
First-quarter results from Iceland’s three leading banks in the past week suggest that the Icelandic banking storm of 2008 may finally be blowing itself out and that, by most internationally accepted measures,
Icelandic banking chills
Up and over the 1,000bp threshold.
Related links
Kaupthing, Glitnir debt is ‘distressed’ – Bloomberg
Scandinavian understatement… – Brad Setser at RGE Monitor
Iceland seeks to curb its banks
Iceland’s prime minister has urged the country’s leading banks to rein in expansion plans, in an effort to calm international investors’ concerns about the country’s economy. The remarks by Geir Haarde,