The UK Treasury has stood by its position on the collapse of Icesave, as the head of the Dutch central bank accused the Icelandic government of misleading it about its financial system. . .

Mr Wellink told a parliamentary committee in the Netherlands that he had been given false assurances by Icelandic government officials and regulators about the safety of the banks.

Matt Patterson, spokesman for the UK Treasury, declined to comment on Mr Wellink's remarks but said all three parties were trying to reach an agreement on the issue. . .

Gylfi Magnusson, minister of economic affairs for Iceland, said in a statement: "We take such allegations very seriously.

"One of the tasks before us is to understand whether false or misleading information was presented by the Icelandic banks, regulators and government officials to foreign regulatory agencies in the months leading up to the collapse of the banking system in October 2008."  FT Adviser website 11-Feb-10.

http://www.ftadviser.com/FinancialAdviser/Regulation/Regulators/Treasury/News/article/20100211/19bd2134-125e-11df-bbca-0015171400aa/Treasury-awaits-results-of-probe-into-Icesaves-past.jsp

Iceland is famous for its sagas. But the latest one is truly dramatic: the balance sheets of its privatised financial sector grew from twice to 10 times gross domestic product, in five years. In the absence of a lender of last resort, this story had to end badly. In the panic of 2008, it did.

Because Iceland was a member of the European Economic Area, its banks were allowed to set up branches freely. To raise money, Landsbanki, one of Iceland’s now collapsed banks, set up an internet bank, Icesave, which gulled depositors by offering attractive interest rates. Under the European Union directive, Iceland also had an obligation to establish a deposit insurance scheme, which it did, through a levy on those banks.

Then came the collapse. Some Icelanders blame Gordon Brown, Britain’s prime minister, for pulling the plug on their banks. That is unreasonable. Competent observers had long concluded that the financial system was a house of cards. It was sure to collapse in a panic. Less unreasonable is the complaint over the UK’s use of a section of its anti-terrorism laws to freeze assets. But some such action was justified.

Since the banks had turned Iceland into a hedge fund, with massive short-term foreign currency liabilities used to finance risky long-term assets, the economy was doomed. 14-Jan-10.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ca8f222e-0141-11df-8c54-00144feabdc0.html

Iceland's president has refused to sign legislation to reimburse Britain and the Netherlands for nearly €4bn ($5.7bn, £3.6bn) lost in a failed Icelandic bank, threatening to plunge the crisis-hit country into a fresh round of political and economic turmoil. . .

The decision will be a serious setback for Alistair Darling , UK chancellor, who has spent months trying to craft a deal.

British officials refused to be drawn on the likely implications of Iceland abandoning the deal. However, Mr Darling warned on Monday that failure to pass the law would "make things much more difficult".

There is little appetite in Whitehall to further soften the terms of the loan agreement that was already regarded as generous, giving Iceland an effective grace period of seven years to rebuild its economy. 06-Jan-10.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/46022a36-fa63-11de-beed-00144feab49a.html?nclick_check=1

Mr Foot, the former managing director of the FSA, published his independent review of British offshore financial centres, which looked at the future sustainability of these jurisdictions and sets out a series of standards to which they must adhere

Although he did not spell out the kind of sanctions that might be enacted, Mr Foot said the process should be similar to the gradual pressure exerted by the G20 on tax havens. . .

The 93-page report states that British offshore financial centres must ensure they meet international standards on tax information exchange, financial regulation, anti-money laundering and financing of terrorism.

Most controversially tax havens must also ensure they put public finances on a firmer footing by diversifying their tax bases, making them less vulnerable to events like the current financial crisis.

The report also said the UK government should discuss with these offshore centres what its relationship and responsibilities will be to them in the future, including what financial assistance it will provide in times of crisis, and how their risks exposures will be managed.  29-Oct-09.

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Iceland’s prime minister has hit out against the International Monetary Fund and the British and Dutch governments for holding up recovery efforts a year after the country’s banking sector collapsed.

Johanna Sigurdardottir, the prime minister, said that it was “not acceptable” that the IMF had delayed a review for months. This review is needed before Iceland can access more of its $5.1bn (£3.2bn) international rescue package . . .

In written answers to FT questions, she said that the UK and Dutch authorities “cannot wash their hands” of regulatory responsibility for the failures of Icelandic banks that operated in Britain and the Netherlands.

She suggested that the UK was contradicting Mr Brown’s own principles by making Icelanders pay for the mistakes of a private Icelandic bank. “The British prime minister has said that it’s not the general public that should suffer from the wrongdoings of the banks but the banks should compensate the public. Obviously he does not count the Icelandic public in [that].”  05-Oct-09.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ba23cd4e-b1f6-11de-a271-00144feab49a.html?nclick_check=1

The Serious Fraud Office is to meet with Icelandic investigators next month to discover whether there was any criminal wrongdoing in the collapse of Iceland's banking sector last year.

According to Financial Adviser's sister paper, the Financial Times, Richard Alderman, director of the SFO, is set to hold talks in London with Eva Joly, the French anti-corruption expert has been hired to assist the Icelandic investigation. . .

Zac Ghadially, associate financial adviser of London-based IFA Yellowtail Financial Planning, said: "The Serious Fraud Office does not have a great track record of doing anything so I am not sure what it will achieve in this investigation."  FT Adviser website - 20-Aug-09.

http://www.ftadviser.com/FinancialAdviser/Regulation/Regulators/News/article/20090820/5c7ee4ee-8b1d-11de-b346-0015171400aa/SFO-goes-to-Iceland-to-investigate-banking-collapse.jsp

Britain’s Serious Fraud Office is to meet with Icelandic investigators in London next month as Reykjavik seeks international help to discover whether criminal wrongdoing played a role in bringing down Iceland’s banking sector.

Richard Alderman, director of the SFO, will hold talks with Eva Joly, the French anti-corruption expert recruited to assist the Icelandic investigation, in the wake of fresh revelations about questionable lending practices at Icelandic banks. 13-Aug-09.

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Iceland's parliament is deadlocked over a controversial deal to reimburse the UK and the Netherlands for €3.9bn ($5.51bn, £3.34bn) of savings lost in a failed Icelandic bank.

Lawmakers had been expected to push towards a final vote on the accord this week after two months of fierce debate since Iceland's government reached agreement with London and The Hague.

But legislation to ratify the pact remained stuck in a parliamentary committee yesterday as the issue threatened to tear apart Iceland's coalition government and jeopardise international support for the country's economic recovery efforts.  11-Aug-09.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/90471670-860e-11de-98de-00144feabdc0.html

Iceland’s new government has dropped plans to take the UK government to the European Court of Human Rights over its use of anti-terror laws to freeze Icelandic assets, ending the most vicious spat between the UK and Iceland since the 1970s cod war.

“There are no plans for the Icelandic government to go to court over this,” said Gylfi Magnusson, the new government’s minister for business affairs, in an interview with the Financial Times.  24-Feb-09.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0e146bde-02ac-11de-b58b-000077b07658.html

Iceland's coalition government has collapsed under the weight of the country's ongoing financial turbulence which first emerged in October with the collapse of the country's largest banks. FT Adviser website - 26-Jan-09.

http://ftadviser.com/FTAdviser/Regulation/Regulators/News/article/20090126/ba899502-ebbd-11dd-bc23-00144f2af8e8/Icelandic-govt-collapses-amid-financial-crisis.jsp