WORLD> Europe
Iceland suspends stock trading, creates new bank
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-09 23:02

The authority said the action was necessary to ensure the "continued orderly operation of domestic banking and the safety of domestic deposits."

It also used emergency powers, rushed in by parliament earlier this week, to hive off most of the domestic assets of Landsbanki into a separate entity to be called "New Landsbanki" that is fully owned by the government.

"The decision means that the new bank takes over all the bank's deposits in Iceland, and also the bulk of the banks assets that relate to its Icelandic operations, such as loans and other claims," it said in a statement.

"The decision ensures continued banking operations for Icelandic families and businesses," it added.

In an attempt to curb any panic, the regulator stressed that both Kaupthing and Landsbanki were open for business as usual on Thursday and that all domestic deposits of the bank were guaranteed under Icelandic law. However, the move leaves the international operations of Landsbanki, which have already caused a diplomatic spat with Britain, open to question.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has threatened to sue Iceland to recover the lost deposits of some 300,000 Britons who hold accounts with IceSave, the online arm of Landsbanki.

With local governments also holding accounts worth tens of millions of pounds (dollars) in Icelandic banks, the British government has also used powers under terrorism laws to freeze Landsbanki's assets until the status of the deposits is resolved.

Savings bank ING Direct UK has agreed to buy more than 3 billion pounds (US$5.3 billion) of deposits held by around 180,000 British savers with Kaupthing Edge and Heritable Bank, which is owned by Landsbanki.

Haarde said on Wednesday that discussions between the two countries had begun between the two countries to find a "mutually satisfactory solution."

Iceland's three major banks are being blamed for the financial catastrophe facing the country. A stock market boom in the mid-1990s supported the rapid growth of the country's banking sector, which now dwarfs the rest of the economy with assets at nine times annual gross domestic product of US$19 billion.