Iceland teeters on the brink of bankruptcy

Iceland Teeters Brink Bankruptcy - Politics, Business, Civil, History - Posted: 8th Oct, 2008 - 7:07am

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Business - European Economy
Post Date: 7th Oct, 2008 - 7:54pm / Post ID: #

Iceland teeters on the brink of bankruptcy

Iceland teeters on the brink of bankruptcy (AP)
European Business News

A man walks out of a branch  of Landsbanki in Reykjavik, Iceland Tuesday Oct. 7, 2008 . Iceland nationalized its second-largest bank Landsbanki  on Tuesday under day-old legislation and negotiated a euro4 billion (US$5.4 billion) loan from Russia to shore up the nation's finances amid a full-blown financial crisis. The moves came a day after trading in shares of major banks was suspended, the Icelandic krona lost a quarter of its value against the euro, and the government rushed through emergency legislation giving it new powers to deal with the financial meltdown.  Prime Minister Haarde warned late Monday that the heavy exposure of the tiny country's banking sector to the global financial turmoil raised the spectre of 'national bankruptcy.'  (AP Photo/Arni Torfason)AP - This volcanic island near the Arctic Circle is on the brink of becoming the first "national bankruptcy" of the global financial meltdown.



Source: Yahoo! News: Business - European Economy

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8th Oct, 2008 - 7:07am / Post ID: #

bankruptcy brink the teeters Iceland

Did you notice who bailed them out? Russia. Russia just bought Iceland for the discount price of $4 billion euros.

QUOTE
In a last-ditch effort Tuesday to save its banking sector, the government of the tiny country, with a population of just 310,000, nationalized its second-largest bank, Landsbanki, and loaned Kaupthing, its largest bank, 500 million euros ($680 million). The measures came after the country's currency, the krona, plunged by 30 percent against the euro on Monday. The country's third-largest bank, Glitnir, was nationalized last week.

Jon Thorisson, CEO of VBS, an Icelandic investment bank, said a $4 billion euro loan could "help Iceland a lot," but admitted that he was surprised the source might be Russia.

"We have been calling for aid from neighboring countries and have been turned down," Thorisson said.  "This is looking like the beginning of relations between Russia and Iceland."

Icelandic Prime Minister Geir Haarde said Tuesday that in times of crisis "one has to look for new friends," The Associated Press reported.

Russia's own banks have been weathering liquidity problems, with the Central Bank stepping in to offer nearly $190 billion in funding for the financial sector, but it looks like the country is still in a good enough position to help Iceland cover some of the costs of bailing out its own banks.

"Russia is not in the same situation as Iceland. Their banks are extremely leveraged," said Vladimir Krendel, an analyst from the Institute of Financial Research in Moscow.

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