Following a previous payment from last December, half of the money owed to the UK and Holland from defunct Icesave accounts will very shortly be paid.
For those not already familiar with the story, Icesave was an electronic branch of Landsbanki that promised depositors very lucrative interest rates on their savings accounts. After the economic collapse of October 2008, however, depositors from the Netherlands and Great Britain found themselves unable to withdraw their funds. The matter resulted in a protracted legal battle between the three countries.
Last October, the Supreme Court ruled that ultimately, Landsbanki is responsible for repaying the depositors. Two months later, Landsbanki paid 266 billion ISK to the British depositor’s insurance fund, and 88 billion ISK to the Dutch. Another 75 billion ISK was put in a so-called “storage account” for accounts that have yet to be taken care of, and another 3 billion ISK was paid to smaller deposit claims. In all, Landsbanki paid 432 billion ISK.
Fréttablaðið now reports that the New Landsbanki has paid 73 billion ISK in euros, pounds and dollars to the management team resolving matters for the old bank just before the weekend. This money will very soon be transferred on to the UK and Holland, thereby covering half the money Landsbanki owes to the two countries, who had previously covered the deposits made into Icesave.
While there is no word yet on how much or when the payment after this will be, the plan is to have the Icesave debt fully paid off by October 2018.
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