Dutch authorities allegedly wanted to prevent Iceland’s Landsbanki Bank from collecting deposits through its online banking unit Icesave in the Netherlands in August. At the time the deposits amounted to EUR 1.2 billion (USD 1.6 billion) in total.
The headquarters of Landsbanki Bank in Reykjavík. Copyright: Icelandic Photo Agency.
According to Morgunbladid’s sources, leaders of Landsbanki did not want to stop the Icesave deposits, but instead offered from then on to deposit EUR 1 into the Dutch Central Bank for each EUR 1 deposited into Icesave into a special reserve fund.
Landsbanki’s offer was not accepted, although it was not off the table either when Landsbanki went bankrupt in October. By then, the amount deposited into Icesave had increased to EUR 1.6 billion (USD 2.1 billion).
Leaders of Landsbanki and the Icelandic Supervisory Authority (FME) attended two meetings with representatives of Dutch authorities in August.
Allegedly, a delegation from the Dutch Financial Supervisory Authority came to Iceland in the weekend of August 16 to 17 and on August 27 Landsbanki representatives traveled to the Netherlands to meet with Nout Wellink, governor of the Dutch Central Bank.
According to Morgunbladid’s sources, Wellink also contacted FME on that day. At the meeting he expressed concern of the rapid growth of the Icesave deposits. Attendees of the meeting agreed to continue discussions on Landsbanki’s Icesave operations in the Netherlands.
Dutch authorities have now agreed to grant a loan to the Icelandic state worth up to EUR 1.1 billion (USD 1.4 billion) so that Iceland can pay the Icesave deposit insurance.
Click here to read more about the agreement on Icesave reached between Icelandic, British and Dutch authorities last month.
