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Let's not forget that Iceland's banks were bailed out by foreign governments. All those UK "Icesave" high interest savings accounts were bailed out by the Bank

Let's not forget that Iceland's banks were bailed out by foreign governments. All those UK "Icesave" high interest savings accounts were bailed out by the Bank of England. If Iceland had more than 300,000 people, you can be damn sure the debt wouldn't have been forgiven, and there would be tariffs on cod and aluminium until it was paid back.

seanmcdirmid 13y ago
It was UK investments, UK investors, and UK depositors. The only thing Icelandic in this case was the flag of the bank.
- peteretep 13y ago
  And where the profits went too.
  - seanmcdirmid 13y ago
    Right, it was UK capital, UK profit, UK risk, they were just using the Icelandic banks for more favorable tax and trading conditions. I swear, it sometimes seems like the whole of UK is in finance and looking at screwing the system globally.
  - hugi 13y ago
    Indeed. Now excuse me while I go bathe in my ill gotten Irish funds with my fellow Icelanders.
  - netcan 13y ago
    This is the important point: 'It's where the customers went, UK customers. Freely." If you go to a foreign bank for tax, interest or other benefits you are exercising a high degree of financial autonomy, choosing a banking system to be a part of. It's not a default decision by someone who needed somewhere to deposit their £438 per week salary. I really don't think you can make the same argument about guaranteeing deposits in these cases, especially without a (low) cap of £10,000 or so. The Bank of England bailout transferred money from future middle class workers in the UK to wealthy and upper-middle class people, maybe 2 generations apart. I think it was immoral.
    - walshemj 13y ago
      Not going to go down to well with a UK pensioner who lost their savings. And UK tax payers like my self who are effectively bailing out Icelandic debts.
      - arethuza 13y ago
        Not really - we are bailing out people from the UK who chose to deposit their money in an Icelandic bank to get higher returns ignoring the fact that higher returns almost certainly implies higher risk. If someone is daft enough to deposit their cash abroad to get higher returns without doing enough due diligence as to where they are depositing their money that's their problem - not mine or any other taxpayers.
        netcan 13y ago
        to add to that, it is important that they be held accountable for the outcomes of that decision. There are 2 options: (1)depositors are guaranteed by taxpayers (2)depositors are not guaranteed by taxpayers. The EU is trying to implement a 3rd option: banks never lose depositors' deposits. The 3rd option is nonsensical. At some point banks will fail. The market works better when the decision maker has skin in the game but there will still be failures and we (nations and individuals including pensioners cannot be shielded from reality completely.
        walshemj 13y ago
        No the problem is that Iceland collectively ignored its responsibilities - for which I and other UK tax payers picked up the bill. So if a UK scammer tricked your parents or grand parents out of say 50% of their life savings you'd tell them you where stupid and deserved it?
        arethuza 13y ago
        If it was a scam then the relevant people who worked in the UK for that bank should be in jail for fraud.
    - 13y ago
relate 13y ago
The "debt" wasn't "forgiven", the Icesave dispute went for the EFTA court, where Iceland was cleared of all charges: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icesave_dispute#EFTA_Court_clears_Iceland_of_all_charges http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icesave_dispute#EFTA_Court_clea...

seanmcdirmid 13y ago

It was UK investments, UK investors, and UK depositors. The only thing Icelandic in this case was the flag of the bank.

peteretep 13y ago
And where the profits went too.
- seanmcdirmid 13y ago
  Right, it was UK capital, UK profit, UK risk, they were just using the Icelandic banks for more favorable tax and trading conditions. I swear, it sometimes seems like the whole of UK is in finance and looking at screwing the system globally.
- hugi 13y ago
  Indeed. Now excuse me while I go bathe in my ill gotten Irish funds with my fellow Icelanders.
- netcan 13y ago
  This is the important point: 'It's where the customers went, UK customers. Freely." If you go to a foreign bank for tax, interest or other benefits you are exercising a high degree of financial autonomy, choosing a banking system to be a part of. It's not a default decision by someone who needed somewhere to deposit their £438 per week salary. I really don't think you can make the same argument about guaranteeing deposits in these cases, especially without a (low) cap of £10,000 or so. The Bank of England bailout transferred money from future middle class workers in the UK to wealthy and upper-middle class people, maybe 2 generations apart. I think it was immoral.
  - walshemj 13y ago
    Not going to go down to well with a UK pensioner who lost their savings. And UK tax payers like my self who are effectively bailing out Icelandic debts.
    - arethuza 13y ago
      Not really - we are bailing out people from the UK who chose to deposit their money in an Icelandic bank to get higher returns ignoring the fact that higher returns almost certainly implies higher risk. If someone is daft enough to deposit their cash abroad to get higher returns without doing enough due diligence as to where they are depositing their money that's their problem - not mine or any other taxpayers.
      - netcan 13y ago
        to add to that, it is important that they be held accountable for the outcomes of that decision. There are 2 options: (1)depositors are guaranteed by taxpayers (2)depositors are not guaranteed by taxpayers. The EU is trying to implement a 3rd option: banks never lose depositors' deposits. The 3rd option is nonsensical. At some point banks will fail. The market works better when the decision maker has skin in the game but there will still be failures and we (nations and individuals including pensioners cannot be shielded from reality completely.
      - walshemj 13y ago
        No the problem is that Iceland collectively ignored its responsibilities - for which I and other UK tax payers picked up the bill. So if a UK scammer tricked your parents or grand parents out of say 50% of their life savings you'd tell them you where stupid and deserved it?
        arethuza 13y ago
        If it was a scam then the relevant people who worked in the UK for that bank should be in jail for fraud.
  - 13y ago

relate 13y ago

The "debt" wasn't "forgiven", the Icesave dispute went for the EFTA court, where Iceland was cleared of all charges: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icesave_dispute#EFTA_Court_clears_Iceland_of_all_charges http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icesave_dispute#EFTA_Court_clea...