Alþingi, the Icelandic parliament, has agreed to the Icelandic state’s sale of its share in the Byr savings bank to Íslandsbanki (formerly Glitnir), as announced this week. All negotiations have been completed.
The headquarters of Glitnir, now Íslandsbanki. Copyright: Icelandic Photo Agency.
Hence the two banks will merge under the name Íslandsbanki; the Financial Supervisory Authority, the Icelandic Competition Authority and the EFTA Surveillance Authority had already approved the acquisition, ruv.is reports.
Íslandsbanki will acquire the 11.8 percent share of the Icelandic state in Byr and the 88.2 percent of the share which was owned by the savings bank’s resolution committee for ISK 6.6 billion (USD 55 million, EUR 41 million).
The combined balance sheet will be ISK 814 billion (USD 6.8 billion, EUR 5.1 billion) and the equity ration well above 20 percent.
The banks’ branches will continue to operate unchanged for now but it is assumed that the first merger of branches will be carried out in the New Year.
Byr’s customers can continue to use all savings accounts, cash cards and ATMs, along with other services.
The goal is for the merger process to be completed in the first months of next year.
In other news, Glitnir has settled all its debts with the Central Bank of Luxembourg, two months ahead of schedule, ruv.is reports.
The debts were accumulated because of loan portfolios which Glitnir used as collateral with the Central Bank prior to the banking collapse in 2008.
ESA
