The Dutch and Icelandic governments reached an agreement on Saturday over how to compensate Dutch depositors at one of Iceland’s troubled banks.
Under the deal, the Icelandic government will compensate each Dutch depositor up to a maximum of 20,887 euros (US$28,281). The Netherlands is offering a loan to Iceland to make that possible.
The money will go to those holding accounts with IceSave, an online company that was part of Landsbanki, an Icelandic bank recently put into receivership.
A deal also may be near between Iceland and Britain, whose governments have been feuding. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently invoked powers under an anti-terrorism law to freeze the British assets of Landsbanki. The move was called a “completely unfriendly act” by Icelandic Prime Minister Geir Haarde.
Government officials from both countries held talks in Reykjavik on Saturday. In a joint statement, they said, “Significant progress was made on retail depositors of Icesave with arrangements agreed in principle for an accelerated payout to depositors.” No further details were given.
The crisis started less than a week ago, when Landsbanki declared insolvency and was taken over by the Icelandic government. The bank is the parent company of Icesave, which had offered savings accounts in the Netherlands since May and in the UK since 2006.
The government has seized control of the country’s top three banks; it started, then abandoned, an attempt to fix the value of the krona; and it has temporarily closed the stock market.
The IMF has offered Iceland a loan in order to get through its present difficulties, but Haarde has not committed to the loan. Iceland also is negotiating a possible loan from Russia.
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