Remember the FIRST Referendum (6th of March 2010)?
Remember the SECOND Referendum (9th of April 2011)?
More than TWO years after the fact!
On the 6th of October 2008 Dutch savers were unable to get to their savings account.
On the same day the Icelandic government got a law approved that gave priority to deposit holders, knowing that they would be the first to profit themselves! The Icelandic Deposit Guarantee Fund was EMPTY…
Don’t be fooled, the Icelandic Government knew all along what was going on!
During the year 2008 that government was almost ‘tortured’ by the Financial Services Authority in the UK on the lack of securities that Landsbanki was able to give.
If you read the Report by the Special Committee of the Icelandic Parliament on the events leading to the crisis you will be astonished about the ease the Icelandic government misguided everybody in the financial world. Geir Haarde, Prime Minister at that time, has to appear for a special court to justify himself.
So his Ministers knew exactly what was going on and how normal savers in the UK and the Netherlands were ‘used’ to cover the loss in bank loans that Landsbanki couldn’t get anymore.
The Icelanders decided to leave all the debts and foreign obligations in the ‘Old’ Landsbanki and start a “New” Landsbanki on the 7th of October 2008, giving all Icelanders access to their savings at the same time…. A 100% compensation scheme!
Likewise the UK government knew exactly what was going on. They tried to get Landsbanki and the Icelandic government to fully cover the deposits since February 2008! When they failed they had no problem compensating the UK deposits in FULL! Knowing that the savers were deceived….as well as they were.
Likewise the Dutch National Bank knew, even before the introduction of Icesave in the Netherlands on the 29th of May 2008, exactly what was going on, but decided to close their eyes! The interests of the Dutch banks abroad were too high. By declining Icesave they might be judged likewise by other supervisors as soon as Dutch banks would apply for a banking permit in that country. Don’t do to them what they might do to you…
The Dutch government however was ill informed about that and was completely surprised when Landsbanki went down!
That explains why the Dutch government didn’t compensate the savers with a deposit over 100.000 Euro, unaware of the struggle before the 6th of October 2008.
Where does that bring us?
To the first of May 2011, where:
- the Icelandic government still is not ‘able’ to pay for its debts towards the governments of the UK and the Netherlands for the first 20.287 Euro (they say they are willing, but the people rejected that ‘will’)
- that Icelandic government wrote an answer to the EFTA on their opinion (of May 2010) that Iceland is indeed obliged to pay that Deposit Guarantee sum. An answer that repeats already given reactions: that Iceland was not obliged to pay at all (despite European law, despite all legal advises, despite the EFTA opinion..) and IF they were obliged to pay there was an emergency situation at hand (in that case the obligation expires)
- judge for yourself if there was an emergency: knowing that the FSA was ‘fighting’ the Icelandic Government since February 2008 and even the Icelandic Parliament thinks Geir Haarde knew more than he was willing to share…
- the EFTA already wrote in May 2008 that Iceland had no reason what so ever to call for an emergency ruling….
- We, the Dutch savers over 100.000 Euro (the ones that trusted the Icelandic banking system and the government the most!), already have a complaint against Iceland since the 21st of September 2009. The EFTA refuses to handle that complaint! Despite the fact that the EFTA already ruled that savers should be protected against a failure like the failure in Iceland (‘be able to safely save is the cornerstone of the banking system’) AND that an emergency situation was not the case. The EFTA knows that if they rule in favour of the Dutch savers (which they should reading the two major ‘opinions’ they issued before) the Icelandic government has to pay ALL the claims of the savers (including the ones form the government) at a much higher interest than the negotiated 3%/3.5%!
- Of course the Icelandic government hopes that the resolution of Landsbanki will give so much money that all the claims can be paid anyway. However, there are still law suits against the Resolution Committee, which prevents starting payments to the claimants. If there could be a payment that could be no more than 30% max, since there is no more cash at the moment. All other ‘possessions’ of ‘Old’ Landsbanki are in loans (that still have to be mature and paid) and stocks in other companies (that have to be sold at a moment in time at a price nobody can guarantee). Any referral to ‘all savers will be paid in full’ is wishful thinking!
We, the Dutch savers over 100.000 Euro, are fed up with the attitude of the Dutch as well as the Icelandic Government.
The Dutch Government has been refusing to help us savers, although they know that we are in our full right to claim our savings on the basis of discrimination.
The Icelandic Government has refused to take our hand time and time again, when we repeatedly asked them for an agreement on the repay of our savings.
Both attitudes made us decide to go for the maximum! Iceland will be obliged to pay us the legal interest on our savings (an average of 15%) from the 6th of October 2008.
A Government that thinks they can fool around with ‘some Dutch savers’ has to be taught a lesson!
From the 29th of May 2008, until today, Icesave is a unique lesson in the financial history, in all its aspects.
Thanks to the Dutch savers, that don’t give up their legal rights!
Finally, on the 1st of October, the truth will be revealed on what really happened before, during and after the Icesave affair.
All the stunning facts on what happened in Iceland before Icesave was introduced in the Netherlands on the 29th of May 2008 are given. With only one possible conclusion: the Dutchsavers were intentionally FUCKED!
For the first time the list of ‘ The Dirty Thirty’ will be published, the 30 Icelanders that willingly mislead their own country men and savers in the UK and the Netherlands.
A conclusion which was also know to the Dutch banking supervisor, De Nederlandsche Bank, at the moment of introduction of Icesave. But they also choose to keep quite, because stopping Icesave could mean the same for Dutch banks doing business in other EC countries, like ING Direct.
Where the English supervisor FSA knew what was going on and (starting february 2008) vigorously tried to stop Landsbanki to misuse Icesave accounts in the UK, DNB let the Icelanders ‘steal’ 1.7 billion Euro in savings for Dutch savers without any serious attempt to stop Landsbanki.
The book ‘Het Icesave Drama’ gives 13 serious reasons not to start with Icesave in the Netherlands that were neglected by DNB.
It also reveils all the details on the way DNB handled Icesave after the start, again stunning to see that DNB did nothing to protect savers from being ‘robbed’.
Where in England the Minister of Finance, Alistair Darling, was fully involved in the handling of Icesave and already presented the top of Iceland the bill for their mis-management of Icesave on the 2nd of September 2008, his colleague Bos in the Netherlands was not even aware of what was going on! He was illinformed by Wellink of DNB….
Afterwards Bos tried every trick in the book to get ‘his’ 1.3 billion Euro back from the Icelanders. He even stuck a dagger in the back of the Dutch savers at the moment they were trying to get their money back in Iceland!By telling his Icelandic colleague that those savers did not have any support of the Dutch government in getting their money back….
These and many more astonishing facts are reveilled in the Icesave Drama book, published on the 1st of October.
In the meantime the savers are still waiting for their money. All the facts confirm that they were mistreated AND discriminated….
TWO years after they got robbed they are still waiting for justice…
How much cooperation (or should we call it luck?) can a country get?
On the 22rd of September 2009 we, simple EU citizens and savers, put a formal complaint against Iceland for discrimination at the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) in Brussels. For the simple fact that Iceland gave ALL the Icelanders access to their savings and we, the simple EU citizens and savers, were given access to …. nothing. In stead we were told to be happy, because the Icelandic government decided in an Emergency Law that depositors like us would get priority. What they didn’t tell you was that they did so to be sure that THEY would get the necessary money for the Deposit Guarantee Fund (DGF) in order to be able to pay the UK and the Dutch the loan that they got from those countries. Minor detail…
At this moment, our complaint is still ‘under investigation’.
And time is running out. They are suppose to react to our complaint within a year!
How complicated can it be?
In earlier reactions to complaints the ESA ruled that:
- Iceland had no reason at all to discriminate
- simple savers don’t have the knowledge the banks have to avoid this kind of risks
- simple savers don’t have the reserves like the banks have to compensate this kind of risks
- simple savers need to have full confidence in the banking system, which trust is THE cornerstone for the banking system
So what is holding up a ruling to our complaint? In Iceland officials told me that they will do anything to avoid a positive ruling of the ESA…. For obvious reasons! Which ones?
Read the upcoming book on the Icesave Drama, that will be in the bookshops at the beginning of October!
In June 2009 the Dutch government stated to the Icelandic government, in a formal letter, that the Dutch savers were indeed too simple: too simple to get any help from their own Dutch government. Why that statement? Because the Dutch government was afraid that if they would support the savers it would have a negative effect on their chances to get the 1.3 Billion Euro loan (that still is pending..).
Clear choice: 1.3 Billion of government money against 25 Million Euro of simple savers…
Which makes a clear lesson: Simple savers should be what they are suppose to be: simple
Meaning: don’t complain, sit still, shut up and don’t refer to any kind of justice!
Sorry for that, but we won’t!
Nearly 2 years after the shameless act of the Icelandic government to discriminate everybody but their own countrymen, we are even more motivated to get our money back!
Finally! The EFTA Surveillance Authority send Iceland a letter stating that there was no reason what so ever for Iceland to discriminate between savers in the Icesave affair.
While all Icelandic savers were compensated, the ones in the foreign branches were not. In the UK all the savers were compensated by the Uk government. In the Netherlands only up to 100.000 Euro. Which left about 400 savers with 40 million in savings with a headache.
The fact that Iceland did compensate their own savers gave them the obligation to do the same to the other savers as well. If the situation was so severe in Iceland at the 6th of October 2008 Iceland should have limited a guarantee to ALL savers.
Consequence? Iceland has to compensate those savers that were not already compensated.
Our members, 260 savers with over 25 million to claim, want the Icelandic government to come up with a fair solution.
ASAP. Like is being done in good sportsmanship. The Looser pays and this time the Looser is not the saver!
We therefore wrote a letter to the PM of Iceland again to confront her with the obligation of the Icelandic government.
An earlier letter on the First of May with a request to meet was never answered.
SHAME!
Will the PM be more sensible this time?
GUESS!