Posts Tagged ‘Icesave’
Sunday, March 11th, 2012
The resolution committee of the failed Icelandic bank Old Landsbanki has subpoenaed the international auditing firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers, accusing the company of creating wrong annual accounts which misled the markets. The committee’s damages claim runs to hundreds of millions of krónur.
The subpoena is around 90 pages long, RÚV reports, and it claims that the misleading of markets about the strength of Landsbanki led to greater losses in the Icelandic financial crash than would otherwise have been the case. Landsbanki used PriceWaterhouseCoopers as its external independent auditors in the years before the crash.
The company is accused of having known about Landsbanki’s precarious position at the end of 2007, some nine months before it went under. It is also claimed that companies owned by Björgólfur Guðmundsson and his son Björgólfur Th. Björgólfsson, the largest owners of Landsbanki, were kept afloat with deception and overdraft loans.
The resolution committee calls into question how the bank’s 2007 report and its 2008 quarterly reports were presented. PriceWaterhouseCoopers is accused of having registered loans as much higher value and more secure than they actually were.
By the end of 2007 Landsbanki had loaned Eimskip, Icelandic Group, FL-Group and associated companies around ISK 200 billion. It is claimed that PriceWaterhouseCoopers auditors knew that the collateral behind those loans was generally either insecure or non-existent but decided, in collaboration with Landsbanki executives, to present the loans in quarterly and annual financial reports under false pretences.
If the independent auditors’ report had been accurate it is likely Landsbanki would have lost its operating licence at the end of 2007, it is claimed. In that event the collection of Icesave deposits in UK would have stopped and would never have begun in the Netherlands in spring 2008. The impact of the collapse would therefore have been smaller.
Resolution committee information officer, Páll Benediktsson, confirmed to reporters that the subpoena has been issued, but said little else. The case against PriceWaterhouseCoopers is set to hit the Reykjavík District Court on 21st June.
Tags: Icesave, Landsbanki, Mbl, Pricewaterhousecoopers
Posted in Business, Iceland, International, auditing, court, featured, litigation | No Comments »
Friday, May 13th, 2011
This evening will see the official opening of Harpa, Iceland’s new concert hall. The story of Harpa is the stuff of legend – somewhere during the boom years its construction was usurped by one Björgólfur Guðmundsson, former owner and Chairman of the Board of Landsbanki [also former owner of West Ham FC], who planned to [...]
Tags: Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, David Oddsson, Harpa, Icesave, Landsbanki
Posted in Harpa concert hall, Iceland, Reykjavík concert hall, The meltdown, social concerns | No Comments »
Thursday, September 16th, 2010
…interesting things were happening in the sub-divisions of the Independence Party.
A new group ascended to power within Heimdallur, its Reykjavik youth organization last night.
It has been hailed by the Icelandic “Fox News”, the website AMX.is as “idealistic people with a clean slate” lead by newcomer Hlynur Jonsson.
Alarm bells!
Behind AMX.is are Milton Friedman’s most loyal disciple Hannes Holmsteinn Gissurarson, chairman of Icelandic libertarians Fridbjorn Orri Ketilsson, former minister Bjorn Bjarnason and former Morgunbladid editor Styrmir Gunnarsson. All revolve around the sun which is David Oddson, and Morgunbladid does not spare the kind words towards AMX’s propaganda.
AMX’s take on the two groups fighting for influence within Heimdallur is unequivocal. The newcomers are clean of all the corruption surrounding the outgoing clique, the group connected to the website Deiglan and sometimes called Geir’s-arm to explain their supposed more liberal stance (and relations as his daughter and stepson are both involved) displayed by its members.
AMX managed this week to connect a couple of young ladder-climbers from the Deigla group to the massive grants received by the Independence Party from FL Group and Landsbankinn in 2006 and IceSave. So David’s re-writing of history is in full blown swing. Or do you really believe as AMX would like you to that Andri Ottarsson, a young guy in his twenties groomed for success with a couple of months in the job could have pulled off the biggest revealed donations in Icelandic history? Or that Thorlindur Kjartansson, an obedient party puppy whose job at Landsbankinn was to market IceSave, was responsible for the saving account’s existence?
The truth hits closer to home, more exactly in the vicinity of David’s close ally Kjartan Gunnarsson who at the time was the party’s CEO and on the board of Landsbankinn.
The Heimdallur revolt is similar to the revolt which happened in the party’s National Youth Organization last winter where a “new and clean” group hijacked the elections. The Deigla group thought it had gotten away with hiding the general meeting away in the west-fjords and appeared set for an election victory when a plane arrived in the small town with a large group of “new, young and clean” pretenders to the throne. Someone paid for their flight and all their membership dues on the spot and their candidate strolled to victory.
Ah, the wonders of democracy.
That candidate, Olafur Orn Nielsen is a Morgunbladid employee, a libertarian activist and very much favourable to David’s group.
The new and clean leader of Heimdallur is Hlynur Jonsson, the son of Jon Steinar Gunnlaugsson who is one of David’s oldest friends and allies. Obviously people should not be held accountable for the sins of their fathers but the signs are ominous. Ignore these developments at your peril.
The question Independence Party members soon have to ask themselves is whether to prepare for David’s return as his libertarian group is actively securing its influence within the party.
a) Do they succumb and play along?
b) Do they have the bravery in them to take the fight?
c) Or do they do the rest of the nation the favor of marginalizing the Independence Party on the fringe by leaving en masse?
Related posts:
- InDefence Honored By Young Independence Party Members
- The Independence Party’s Successful Projection Of Baugur and IceSave
- Silly Debate On IceSave
Tags: Alarm Bells, Amx, Andri, Bjorn Bjarnason, Clean Slate, Closer To Home, Deiglan, Fox News, Icesave, Independence Party, Ladder Climbers, Landsbankinn, Liberal Stance, Libertarians, Loyal Disciple, Milton Friedman, Morgunbladid, Oddson, Stepson, Youth Organization
Posted in Iceland, Market | No Comments »
Monday, May 3rd, 2010
“Oh my God, I wouldn’t want to be in the position they are in,” said Icelandic Minister of Finance Steingrimur J. Sigfusson to Bloomberg. In the interview he said he believes Iceland avoided Greece’s fate partly because it has its own currency.
“The Greek position is very different to that which Iceland was or is in,” Sigfusson said. “Greece has the euro and we could debate whether that’s good for them at the moment.”
“The sovereign debt crisis will mark the political debate of the years to come,” Sigfusson said. “What lies ahead for the world is to sober up.”
Sigfusson told Bloomberg that the likelihood of an Icelandic default has all but disappeared now that the IMF has paid out on the second tranche of its loan package to the country. “I am optimistic that we will not need all the 4.6 billion dollars that the IMF programme allows for,” Sigfusson said.
The minister said he would like to see financial practices like derivatives and credit default swaps prohibited. Such practices do nothing for the economy as a whole, he said.
Tags: Billion Dollars, Credit Default Swaps, Debt Crisis, Derivatives, Fate, Finance Minister, Financial Practices, Financiers, Greece, Green Leader, Icesave, Imf, Krona, Likelihood, Loan Package, Minister Of Finance, Money Secret, Political Debate, Sovereign Debt, Tranche
Posted in Iceland | No Comments »
Monday, April 19th, 2010
In a new declaration of intent to the International Monetary Fund, the government of Iceland promises to repay in full the cost of Landsbanki’s Icesave deposits to the British and Dutch states, in addition to “normal” interest rates.
Tags: Declaration Of Intent, Government Of Iceland, Icesave, Interest Rates, International Monetary Fund, Landsbanki
Posted in Iceland | No Comments »
Monday, April 12th, 2010
The Icelandic parliament’s long-delayed report into the collapse of the main banks has now been released to the public.
Sections of the report can already be read in English here.
A press conference is being held by the report’s authors and the leaders of the main political parties will comment of their initial reactions this afternoon.
Some early highlights from the report are that GBP 200 million was taken from Icesave in the UK to Iceland in the last weekend of March 2008 with the knowledge of the government and central bank. All the banks shorted the Icelandic krona in order to maximise their own profits. The banks loaned money to their owners with no security. Government since the crash is described by the report as lacklustre.
More on IceNews as it comes.
The 2,000 page report took 15 months to complete, despite an initial maximum time allowed of just 10 months. Committee members blame an underestimation of the size of the task for the delay.
Tags: 10 Months, 15 Months, Authors, Banks, Collapse, Committee Members, Crash Report, Iceland, Icelandic Krona, Icesave, Initial Reactions, Maximum Time, Money, Parliament, Political Parties, Profits, Public Sections
Posted in Iceland | No Comments »
Sunday, April 11th, 2010
Iceland’s President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson and Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir have both sent the nation’s condolences to Poland for the tragic loss of their president; but Icelandic Foreign Minister Ossur Skarphedinsson expressed the greatest personal sadness of all.
“This is awfully sad, and I am full of sympathy for the Polish nation in losing its president in this manner,” Ossur Skarphedinsson said on the death yesterday of Polish President Lech Kaczynski. 96 people are thought to have died in the plane crash yesterday in western Russia; among them the President and First Lady and many other top government officials including the head of the Polish military and the head of its central bank.
“I met the President several times and held two formal meetings with him. The first time was connected to the NATO summit in Strasbourg,” Skarphedinsson told Visir.is. “The second time I met with him along with the Icelandic president at the UN headquarters last September.”
The Icelandic FM told reporters that Kaczynski had been a controversial politician; but that his positive attitude towards Iceland had been almost unrivalled among heads of state. He apparently took a personal interest in Iceland and was always well-informed of current events.
“In September I discussed with him some very difficult issues, including the IMF and Icesave. He empathised with Iceland and understood our side well,” Skarphedinsson said.
The fact that Poland unilaterally decided to include itself in the Nordic loan package to Iceland came as a complete surprise and apparently had Kaczynski’s fingerprints all over it. “We in the Icelandic government first heard about the Polish loan through the foreign media,” Skarphedinsson admitted. It was also noted that Poland’s USD 200 million of the IMF-led loan package has never been tied to a resolution of the Icesave dispute.
Skarphedinsson also said that Kaczynski took a personal interest in the lives of Poles living in Iceland. He already knew that Polish people are the biggest foreign-born group in Iceland and had heard personal accounts of how welcome Poles had been made to feel in Iceland. He apparently thanked Skarphedinsson for Iceland’s positive treatment of its Polish minority at both official meetings and took pride in Skarphedinsson’s assertion that Poles had worked hard to make themselves an important part of Icelandic society.
“It is clear that Kaczynski was someone who really wanted to support us,” Skarphedinsson said.
The editors at IceNews would also like to offer their condolences to all Polish nationals living in the Nordic region.
Tags: Controversial Politician, Events In September, Fingerprints, Formal Meetings, Heartfelt Condolences, Icesave, Imf, Last September, Loan Package, Nato Summit, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, Personal Interest, Plane Crash, Polish Nation, Polish President Lech, Positive Attitude, Ragnar, Tragic Loss, Usd 200, Western Russia
Posted in Iceland | No Comments »
Thursday, April 1st, 2010
Just now the governments of Iceland, the UK and the Netherlands signed an agreement on the repayment scheme of Landsbanki’s Icesave deposits. Negotiations were believed to be at standstill and therefore this sudden solution came as a surprise.
Tags: Breaking News, Governments, Icesave, Landsbanki, Negotiations, Netherlands, Repayment Scheme, Standstill, Sudden Solution, Surprise
Posted in Iceland | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 30th, 2010
Managing director of the International Monetary Fund Dominique Strauss-Kahn said he doubts the majority of the IMF board supports the second review of the economic stabilization program for Iceland because the Icesave dispute between Iceland, the UK and the Netherlands is still unresolved.
Tags: Dominique Strauss Kahn, Economic Stabilization, Iceland Uk, Icesave, Imf Board, International Monetary Fund, Managing Director, Netherlands, Stabilization Program
Posted in Iceland | No Comments »
Monday, March 29th, 2010
It is considered likely that the board of the International Monetary Fund will review the economic stabilization program for Iceland next month regardless of the situation of Iceland's dispute with the UK and the Netherlands on Icesave.
Tags: Economic Stabilization, Iceland, Icesave, Imf, International Monetary Fund, Netherlands, Stabilization Program
Posted in Iceland | No Comments »
Thursday, March 25th, 2010
It is unlikely anything important will happen in the Icesave issue before British elections take place this spring. That is the opinion of Icelandic Independence Party leader Bjarni Benediktsson following London meetings with three British parliamentary committees. He added that it is still extremely unclear what will come next in the trilateral dispute.
Icelandic delegates of the Althingi foreign affairs committee have been meeting in London this week in London with the British parliament’s foreign affairs and finance committees, as well as the UK-Iceland co-operation committee.
The purpose of the meetings was to broaden understanding of the varying points-of-view on Icesave in both countries and to improve personal tied between the parliaments of the two countries.
Committee head Arni Thor Sigurdsson told RUV that he and his colleagues had experienced lots of goodwill towards Iceland during their visit to London. Meanwhile, Bjarni Benediktsson said he got the impression the parliament in the UK seems to be pulling back from the Icesave issue and said that all three committees the Icelanders met believed that nothing will happen before the General Election due for 6th May.
Tags: Bjarni, British Elections, British Parliament, Colleagues, Committee Head, Delegates, Finance Committees, Foreign Affairs Committee, General Election, Goodwill, Icesave, Independence Party, London Meetings, Parliament, Parliament Uk, Parliamentary Committees, Parliaments, Party Leader, Thor, Uk Elections
Posted in Iceland | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
Well this is what happened….
…apart from the UK and Holland not showing any signs of rushing into negotiating…
….nothing.
Related posts:
- No Vote In IceSave Referendum
- An MP Answers Why She’ll Vote Yes on IceSave
- National Referendum: A Sad Day For Democracy in Iceland
Tags: Democracy, Holland, Icesave, Mp, National Referendum, Sad Day, Signs, Vote
Posted in Iceland, Market | No Comments »
Monday, March 22nd, 2010
The finance committee of the Norwegian parliament has voted to loan funds to Iceland regardless of the ongoing Icesave dispute. It was the representatives of the Christian Democratic Party who pushed for the resolution.
The committee declared that Norway should loan Iceland money regardless of the ongoing Icesave dispute with Iceland on one side and the Netherlands and the United Kingdom on the other, ABC Nyheter reported.
The Norwegian Storting parliament will discuss the committee report tomorrow and it is thought highly likely that parliament will vote to approve the committee’s recommendation. The committee also stated its opinion that Iceland has the right to bring the Icesave dispute to an impartial international court; a move the Netherlands and the UK have opposed.
Representatives of all parties in the committee, except the Christian Democrats, made the qualification that Norwegian funds should be made available to Iceland only when the IMF review is compete and Iceland is seen to stand by its debts according to EU law.
Hans Olav Syversen of the Christian Democrats said it is clear that Norway is ready to lend to Iceland regardless of Icesave but that it is unclear what effect this will have on the IMF programme.
This news effectively means that Norway is exerting political pressure on the IMF to complete its held-up review of its Iceland recovery package – but it does not mean that Norway is about to break ranks with the IMF and loan funds unilaterally.
Tags: Abc, Break, Christian Democratic Party, Christian Democrats, Committee Report, Deadlock, Debts, Finance Committee, Iceland, Icesave, Imf, Loan Funds, Netherlands, Norway, Norwegian Parliament, Nyheter, Olav, Parliament, Report Tomorrow, Storting
Posted in Iceland | No Comments »
Saturday, March 20th, 2010
The Icesave issue has been discussed more than once by the Paris Club, an organisation more used to talking about the debt problems of third world nations. Individual financial officials in the ‘club’ expressed their deep concern that Iceland’s hard stance could set an unwelcome precedent.
The Paris Club is an informal association of economic officials from 19 wealthy nations who meet every few weeks. The Club’s meetings take place in complete secrecy. At the meeting, wealthy creditor nations make decisions on how to deal with mainly third world debtor nations and work on the terms and schedule of repayments and whether to write certain debts off. Unanimity is key to the Paris Club, meaning for example that no single member nation can offer greater concessions to debtors than all the others, according to RUV.
The Icelandic state broadcaster attempted to interview members of the Club but was repeatedly brushed off by an organisation seemingly worried that Icelandic defiance could make the job of policing world debt a little harder.
Tags: Concessions, Creditor Nations, Debt Problems, Debtor Nations, Debtors, Debts, Defiance, Economic Officials, Financial Officials, Headaches, Icesave, Member Nation, Paris Club, Repayments, Secrecy, State Broadcaster, Third World Nations, Unanimity, Wealthy Nations, World Debt
Posted in Iceland | No Comments »
Saturday, March 13th, 2010
SATURDAY'S ICESAVE referendum was resoundingly rejected by 93.2 per cent of Icelanders, with just 1.8 per cent casting their vote in favour of the current 3.9 billion repayment package.
Tags: Favour, Iceland, Icesave, Referendum, Vote
Posted in Iceland | No Comments »
Friday, March 12th, 2010
Jonas Gahr Store, the Norwegian Foreign Minister, looks set to break ranks with the other Nordic countries by recommending that Norway grant loans to Iceland before the Icesave issue is finally resolved with the Netherlands and the UK.
Aftenposten reports that not only are the Norwegians potentially interested in granting Iceland the promised loan through the IMF right away, but that Store’s government may also be willing to offer another separate loan to Iceland in co-operation with the EU.
Store’s timing seems to be deliberate, with his comments coming just a day before today’s meeting of the Nordic finance ministers in Denmark. So far all the other Nordic nations have said their support for Iceland will not be paid out before Icesave is completely off the agenda. Icesave will be on the agenda in Copenhagen today.
“Norwegian assistance is tied to the IMF package and in our opinion the IMF package is not tied to a solution to the Icesave issue as the conditions of the package stand,” Store told Aftenposten.
Store emphasised that the Nordic nations should not do anything to hinder Iceland’s IMF package—his comments a direct response to a Nordic neighbour’s opinion that the Icesave issue must be out of the way before any loan can come from that country to Iceland through the IMF. Store said the issue will be discussed today.
Store added that there is no sign that the British and Dutch have tried to stall the IMF’s work in Iceland; and a week ago the Fund’s chief, Dominique Strauss Kahn told the press he is ready and willing to continue with the Iceland package without a final agreement in the Icesave issue.
Tags: Aftenposten, Break, Copenhagen, Day Before Today, Denmark, Direct Response, Dominique Strauss Kahn, Emphasised, Finance Ministers, Foreign Minister, Gahr, Icesave, Imf Package, Loans, Neighbour, Netherlands, Nordic Countries, Nordic Nations, Norway, Norwegians
Posted in Iceland | No Comments »
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
Some argue the Icelandic government has been weakened by Saturday’s massive ‘no’vote in the Icesave referendum and nobody believes its domestic position was improved by it. As a result, members are calling for something to be done.
Social Democrat and Left Green sources contacted by Frettabladid believe the easiest way to reinforce the government is to get Ogmundur Jonasson back into the cabinet.
Jonasson resigned from the position of Minister for Health last year as he felt unable to support his party’s line on Icesave; but as the issue has since changed so dramatically, sources claim his return to government is already in the works and could happen shortly after Easter. Aside from the Icesave issue, Jonasson has remained a loyal, and outspoken, Left Green Movement member and an MP.
According to Frettabladid, Social Democrats within government are also enthusiastic about the move because Jonasson is a unifying force within the Green Party that some currently see as two separate parties in all but name.
The paper reports that Jonasson himself has not been pushing to return; but if the expected cabinet reshuffle happens, Jonasson’s place in it, once again as health minister, seems likely. Another possible option is for the two unelected cabinet members drafted in during the crisis to be replaced by Jonasson and a Social Democrat.
Ogmundur Jonasson became Minister for Health in the minority caretaker government from 1st February last year and kept his post after the election in April, but resigned on 20th September. Despite publicly having resigned his position, he told media at the time that it felt more as if he had been forced out.
Tags: 1st February, 20th September, April, Cabinet Members, Cabinet Reshuffle, Caretaker Government, Easter, Green Party, Health Minister, Icesave, Jonasson, Mp, Referendum, S Line, Social Democrat, Social Democrats, Vote
Posted in Iceland | No Comments »
Monday, March 8th, 2010
THE risk of Icelandic sovereign default is “almost non-existent” and the country could honour all of its debt obligations by relying purely on its existing reserves, its central bank governor said in an interview on the sidelines of meetings at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Mar Gudmundsson said agreement could be reached on Icesave within one to two weeks.
Tags: Bank For International Settlements, Basel, Central Bank Governor, Debt Obligations, Gudmundsson, Honour, Iceland, Icesave, Risk, Sidelines
Posted in Iceland | No Comments »
Monday, March 8th, 2010
In a comment on the
Economist's website Thorsteinn Jónsson tries to correct a few misconsceptions that he thinks have entered into the debate. His comment is helpful to try to understand the Icelandic viewpoint.
Tags: Economist, Icesave, Misconceptions, Viewpoint
Posted in Iceland | No Comments »