Treasury - Fifth Report
Banking Crisis: The impact of the failure of the Icelandic banks

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Here you can browse the report together with the Proceedings of the Committee. The published report was ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 31 March 2009.

Contents

Terms of Reference

Summary

1 Introduction

Iceland, the UK and its Crown Dependencies

2 A crisis in Iceland

The economy of Iceland

Crisis and the need for IMF support

The expansion of the Icelandic banks

Structure of the Icelandic regulatory system

Structure of the Icelandic banks

Expansion of the financial sector outside Iceland

The impact of membership of the European Economic Area

Expansion into the UK

The offshore entities

The takeover of Singer and Friedlander

3 What happened in October 2008?

Iceland's liquidity crisis

The collapse of Glitnir and Landsbanki banks

UK action against Landsbanki

Kaupthing's demise

Was the Chancellor to blame for the collapse of Kaupthing?

The impact of the Icelandic banks' collapse on the Crown dependencies

Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander (Isle of Man) Limited

Compensation schemes available to depositors

Crown dependencies and a guarantor of last resort

4 Charities and local authorities

The local authorities

Advised to invest?

Reliance on credit rating agencies

Plea for assistance

Charities

Charitable deposits

Guidance to charities

Charities as "wholesale depositors"

Government assistance

5 Protecting British citizens

Individuals who lost

The provision of assistance

An overarching principle

The role of the UK Financial Services Authority

Tax havens

Expatriates

The Isle of Man subsidiary of the Derbyshire Building Society

The overall case for assistance

Lessons learnt

Advice to UK citizens investing offshore

The wider issue of cross-border regulation and 'passporting'

Conclusions and recommendations

Formal minutes

Reports from the Treasury Committee during the current Parliament

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Prepared 4 April 2009