The UK government has rejected calls for assistance from British savers who lost millions in the collapse of Landsbanki Guernsey.

The Landsbanki Guernsey Depositors Action Group petitioned the UK government for support in its campaign to recover savings lost when the Guernsey branch of Icelandic bank Landsbanki collapsed in October 2008.

The mostly expatriate customers of Landsbanki Guernsey have only received 30p in the pound from the bank’s administrator and cannot claim compensation because the Crown Dependency did not have a depositors’ protection scheme in 2008.

‘The Landsbanki Guernsey Depositors Action Group calls on the UK Government to support British savers in Landsbanki Guernsey in seeking the full and prompt return of their savings,’ said Matthew Dorman of the action group, which has pushed the States of Guernsey for compensation.

The UK government said Landsbanki Guernsey was an Icelandic bank and was the responsibility of Guernsey’s financial regulator. The Treasury noted that many banks do not allow expatriates to open onshore accounts but stated this was purely a commercial decision.[Ends] 16-Nov-1-.

http://www.citywire.co.uk/new-model-adviser/government-rejects-calls-for-landsbanki-guernsey-compensation/a449598?ref=new-model-adviser-latest-news-list

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) was blanked and bluffed by Icelandic bankers for months over the ticking Icesave time bomb.

A 2000-page Icelandic report into the 2008 banking crisis which almost bankrupted the tiny island country reveals the behind-the-scenes talks between the FSA, the Icelandic government and Landsbanki. It shows the FSA waited seven months before pulling the plug on Landsbanki, of which Icesave was the online savings arm, despite being faced with mounting evidence that the bank was not strong enough to survive. 21-Apr-10.

http://www.citywire.co.uk/adviser/-/features/other/content.aspx?ID=394796

The Guernsey financial regulator has told consumers it is up to them to read banks' financial accounts to check if it is safe to deposit their savings.

Offshore savers are financially sophisticated and should be expected to study the finances of the island's banks to see it they are safe, according to the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC). The warning comes after the collapse of Landsbanki Guernsey in October 2008, which streamed money backed to its parent onshore bank leaving its offshore savers out of pocket. . .

The advice from the GFSC has been ridiculed by one offshore saver. ‘It begs the rather obvious question: what on earth is the regulator for, if they're telling the public ‘figure it out for yourself.'  12-Mar-10.

http://www.citywire.co.uk/adviser/-/news/regulation-training-and-competence/content.aspx?ID=387193

A Treasury commissioned report has called for UK offshore financial centres to raise supervision standards and cut back on the protection offered to foreign savers.   

Michael Foot, author of Final report of the independent review of British offshore financial centres, said the Isle of Man should consider closing its depositors’ compensation scheme to foreign savers following the collapse of Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander IoM. . .

‘Reduction or elimination of these [foreign savers] might allow jurisdiction to provide protection to local residents without the need for a liability cap. This is something that they have the freedom to think about.’ . .

The collapse of Icelandic banks Kaupthing and Landsbanki in October 2008 caused problems for savers who deposited money in its subsidiaries based in the IoM and Guernsey.

The IoM government has paid out £85 million so far to savers who deposited cash with Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander IoM through its compensation scheme while consumers who saved with Landsbanki Guernsey have received no support from the Channel Island Crown Dependency. 29-Oct-09.

http://www.citywire.co.uk/personal/-/news/money-property-and-tax/content.aspx?ID=365088&Page=2

Around 150 depositors in failed bank Landsbanki Guernsey joined the G20 protest outside the Bank of England to call for Guernsey to be placed on a tax haven blacklist.

The protesters want Guernsey to be added to the blacklist drawn up by world leaders at the G20 London Summit stating that it is an unsafe jurisdiction because of its refusal to protect deposits in the Icelandic-owned Landsbanki.  07-Apr-09.

http://www.citywire.co.uk/Adviser/-/news/regulation-training-and-competence/content.aspx?ID=335731

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

The collapse of the Icelandic banking sector seems to have benefited one group of people – lawyers.

Legal threats have been flying across the UK and Irish Sea since Kaupthing and Landsbanki collapsed in 2008, and a new report from the Audit Commission will only fuel the fire. . .

. . . A splinter group of Landsbanki Guernsey depositors will join protesters at the G20 meeting this week. Many expats blame government money-laundering rules for forcing them to use offshore banks. The Landsbanki Guernsey action group found only two out of 57 mainland banks would accept British expats who did not have a current UK address.  31-Mar-09.

http://citywire.co.uk/adviser/-/blogs/the-new-model-adviser-blog/content.aspx?ID=334818

Landsbanki Guernsey administrators Deloitte is trying to untangle a web of loans and guarantees to try and salvage depositor money.  The Icelandic-owned bank’s 1,600 savers are still waiting for their cash after Landsbanki Guernsey went into administration in October.

A Deloitte report refused to estimate how much could be recovered but said depositors could expect ‘substantial’ payments but warned the earliest possible date for cash to be returned was the end of 2009. 09-Jan-09

http://www.citywire.co.uk/Adviser/-/news/adviser-news/content.aspx?ID=325691

Clients of IFAs who were advised to put money in offshore deposit accounts should sue, Financial Services Authority (FSA) chief executive Hector Sants has said.

Answering a question at today’s House of Commons Treasury Committee from Graham Brady MP, on whether consumers were sufficiently aware of the regulatory status of foreign-owned banks in offshore jurisdictions, Sants said he saw no reason why anyone would imagine deposits with banks such as Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander Isle of Man (KSF IoM) would be protected. 15-Dec-08.

http://www.citywire.co.uk/Adviser/-/news/adviser-news/content.aspx?ID=324004