Treasury select committee MPs have criticised the quality of advice given by IFAs in the run-up to the Icelandic bank failures.

In a report into the failure of the Icelandic banks, the committee says: "Bearing in mind the heavy coverage in the financial press of Iceland’s fragility we would have expected offshore savers using independent financial advisers to have been advised of the changing risk profile of their savings.”

The TSC says it will be exploring further the role of advice to customers in its forthcoming inquiry into the banking crisis.   MoneyMarketing website -  04-Apr-09.

http://www.moneymarketing.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=183937&d=340&h=341&f=342

GUERNSEY can expect a massive boost to its economy after throwing off its tax haven stigma yesterday. . .

. . . Last night, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, which helps governments tackle challenges in the world’s economy, released the news that Guernsey is now among 40 jurisdictions on a ‘white list’ of co-operative and well regulated places. 04-Apr-09.

http://www.thisisguernsey.com/2009/04/03/we-are-safe/

GUERNSEY’S financial regulator was kept in the dark by its UK counterpart about the full extent of the unfolding Icelandic banking crisis that led to the collapse of Landsbanki Guernsey, it has emerged.

And that may have impeded its ability to safeguard the island’s financial system.  04-Apr-09.

http://www.thisisguernsey.com/2009/04/04/uk-regulator-kept-mum-over-iceland/

Charities with cash deposited in the failed Icelandic banks should be fully compensated by the government, a Treasury select committee report will recommend today, although local authorities, which had more than £953m invested, should be left to stand in line with other creditors.

The report also backs the government in refusing to compensate British citizens who had money invested in offshore accounts in the Isle of Man and Guernsey with the Icelandic banks.  04-Apr-09.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/apr/04/charities-compensation-iceland-investments

Local authorities and investors who used offshore accounts to invest in Iceland should not be compensated, says the Treasury Committee.

The recommendations made in the first of a series of Treaury Committee reports on the banking crisis will infuriate UK savers who deposited money in the failed Isle of Man and Guernsey subsidiaries of Icelandic banks.  04-Apr-09.

http://www.citywire.co.uk/personal/-/news/markets-companies-and-funds/content.aspx?ID=335519

The Treasury Committee has demanded the regulator and banks explain why ex-pats cannot open onshore accounts.

Ex-pats have been forced to deposit money offshore and lost the protection of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme when there was no legal reason for banks to block applications, MPs said in a report on the Icelandic banking crisis.  04-Apr-09.

http://www.citywire.co.uk/adviser/-/news/regulation-training-and-competence/content.aspx?ID=335554

ICELANDIC campaigners presented an 83,000-name petition at the House of Commons to protest at their citizens being branded 'terrorists' by the UK Government. . .

. . . Austin Mitchell MP, chairman of the British-Icelandic All- Party Parliamentary Group, said: 'I welcome this petition. Government was too quick to act against Iceland when we should have helped them.'  Isle of Man Today website - 24-Mar-09.

http://www.iomtoday.co.im/politics/Iceland-protest-in-London-at.5102446.jp

Weil Gotshal & Manges has scored a High Court ­victory in the first step towards forcing the UK Government to revisit its decision to put the UK arm of Icelandic bank Kaupthing into administration.

The High Court agreed to the request for a judicial review from the state-­controlled Icelandic bank last week.  The Lawyer website - 23-Mar-09.

http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=137226&d=415&h=417&f=416

Action groups fighting for compensation for depositors hit by the collapse of Kaupthing and Lansbanki have call for an investigation into the availability of onshore bank accounts for crown dependency residents.

They have accused the Government, banks and building societies and the FSA of passing the buck on making it easier for offshore depositors to hold an onshore account covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).   International Investment website - 20-Mar-09.

http://www.intinv.com/public/showPage.html?page=847786

The Serious Fraud Office which yesterday launched an inquiry into the British financial arm of AIG, the nationalised US insurer, said it may follow it up with further investigations into the collapsed Icelandic banks Kaupthing and Landsbanki.13-Feb-09.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article5721613.ece