Icelandic authorities ignored warnings before October 2008 on the expanded banking system threatening financial stability but the shock of 90% of the financial system collapsing focused minds.
MADRID | By Ana Fuentes | Everyone is commenting on BNP Paribas historic settlement and the eventual fines that other EU banks might face (read our yesterday’s post), and the missed opportunity to really punish their illegal practices. And yet no financial savvy is talking about Iceland’s Reykjavík County Court handing out severe prison sentences to four bankers for market manipulation and breach of fiduciary duty. As London-based Icelandic reporter Sigrún Davíðsdóttir explains, “this case is not one of the big ones involving major investors or bank managers (…), but there are other similar cases snarling their way through courts.”
LONDON | City-based fund manager Pawel Morski (pseudonym) believes the EU is recognising it is moving towards a new regime of bailing in banks. For a non-template, he points out, the Cyprus solution drops some cracking clues as to Brussels’ priorities.
A curated selection of links we hope can enlighten us all; some come from our corner, some do from other corners of the net. And as always, our comment widgets are anxious to get your suggestions. Anglo-Saxon banker-bashing, this time from one of them! Why a general strike in Spain is not what once was Fed’s bank stress tests? Don’t trust them The day the UK felt vulnerAAAble A review of…
By Julia Pastor, in Madrid.- Since last week, Iceland debt is no longer rated as junk bond. Fitch raised the country’s rating by one notch, from BB+ to BBB-. This fact has sparked a significant number of comments about whether the way in which Iceland has managed the economic crisis is a model for other European countries, particularly the peripherals. It is undeniable that the actions taken by the so far Iceland…