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Future of Icelandic cash is still uncertain
The future of thousands of pounds of taxpayers' cash deposited in failed Icelandic banks still remains uncertain.
South Ribble Council invested 5m in the banks before their collapse in 2008 and have faced an anxious wait to see how much of that amount they could get back.
A total of 3m was invested in a long-term loan with Landsbanki, and 2m in short-term investments with their English arm Heritable.
The authority has since received more than 40 per cent of the 2m, and has said there is a 'promise of more to come', with the bank's administrators saying they are hoping to return a 'vast majority' of deposits.
A fourth installment of 126,00 was received by the council in July, taking the total amount it has recovered to more than 830,000.
The council was one of 123 local authorities in the UK affected by the meltdown of Iceland's economy brought about by the failure of all three of its major banks in October 2008.
It could take several years before the matter is finally resolved.
Predictions on the amount of money the council could expect to recoup have varied from 55 per cent to 95 per cent since the bank crisis was announced.
It is expected that any money written off on the debts would come from the council's reserve funds, rather than their annual budget, so would not affect services.
But Coun Stephen Robinson, cabinet member with responsibility for finance and resources, said he was pleased about the progress the council had made, and were confident much more money would be returned.
He said: "We have worked very hard to pursue the return of our frozen Icelandic deposits since the country's economic collapse two years ago, and I am very pleased with the progress we have made.
"The administrators have said that, in time, we could get back most of the money which was deposited with Heritable.
"There can be no guarantees, of course, but we are very optimistic.
"It is all a far cry from the doom and gloom of 2008 and early 2009, when some so-called experts suggested that all the money we had invested in Iceland was lost forever."
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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