Icesave - is it in trouble ?
Discussion
Interestign discussion here:
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...
you have the same cover as with a UK bank, but they are viewed as a higher risk and how long would it take you to get the cash back if the worst happened. It's this last bit that has put me off having an account with them although a couple of other good higher rate accounts at the moment are Bradford Bingley and Alliance & Leicester who are hardly safe as 'ouses.
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...
you have the same cover as with a UK bank, but they are viewed as a higher risk and how long would it take you to get the cash back if the worst happened. It's this last bit that has put me off having an account with them although a couple of other good higher rate accounts at the moment are Bradford Bingley and Alliance & Leicester who are hardly safe as 'ouses.
As I understand it (and I have an accout with them) Icesave is a member of the financial services compensation scheme (FSCS) so you're covered up to £35k loss. However, there is a caveat that the first E20k (£15k ish??) is actually covered by the Icelandic compensation scheme, not the UK. So if it all went tits up then getting your £35k back would involve 2 regulators. If you think that a crunch is coming, and Iceland is going to get hit, and in particular Icelandic banks are going to get hit, then you might wobble a bit about gettin your first E20k back and so withdraw it. Interestingly, if the Icelandic government couldn't cover the compensation scheme then the other Nordic countries have a mechanism in place to step in and bail out one of their neighbours. So while the compensation schemes are theoretical, in that they've never been used, you could argue that there's nothing to say that this 'protection' is any better or worse than investing purely in UK banks.
Kaupthing is slightly different in that we (UK investors) use the UK banking arm of Kaupthing and so would be covered for the full £35k here on the UK compensation scheme.
Over £35k of course and you're not covered - like banks here.
Is it in trouble? Who the funk knows
Kaupthing is slightly different in that we (UK investors) use the UK banking arm of Kaupthing and so would be covered for the full £35k here on the UK compensation scheme.
Over £35k of course and you're not covered - like banks here.
Is it in trouble? Who the funk knows
My only concern (and I do think it's more hypothetical than possible) is that with Icesave you don't have the full FSA scheme in place, you have to get the first £15k or so back through a "Passport" scheme which is administered by the banks home nation.
I have an account with Icesave, with the FSA limit in it and I'm planning on opening an account with someone like Northern Rock and transferring the bulk to that and then using the Icesave account for the overspill.
I have an account with Icesave, with the FSA limit in it and I'm planning on opening an account with someone like Northern Rock and transferring the bulk to that and then using the Icesave account for the overspill.
I have an account with Icesave and am not particularly worried at the moment, it's all media scaremongering imo.
Thread running here
Thread running here
groucho said:
g4ry13 said:
I'm considering taking my money out of the account once I get this month's interest paid. The idea of having to wait to wait for the icelandic authorities to clear it isn't too appealing. Ironically, I may put it with Northern Rock of all places 
Panic withdrawing!Even if the bank is fine, panic withdrawing can make the healthiest of banks have problems. I know it's somewhat different, but Northern Rock suffered from withdrawals on a large scale and ING has lost a lot lately from being so un-competitive. Icesave isn't so widely publicised so i'll keep it there for a bit and see how many inches it gets in the papers before making a decision.
From their website...
Peace of mind
We are part of Landsbanki, one of the largest quoted financial services providers in Iceland. Here are a few key facts you might like to know about Landsbanki:
* We were founded in 1886 and have been operating in the UK since 2000
* We are a large and diversified financial services provider active in retail and corporate banking, investment banking, capital markets services, asset and wealth management for private banking customers and deposit taking in over 17 countries including the UK, Ireland, USA, France, Holland, Luxembourg and Hong Kong
* We had total worldwide assets of €33.4 billion that included assets exceeding £5 billion in the UK and liquid assets of €8.9 billion (as at 31 December 2007)
* We made a stable pre-tax profit for 2007 of €520 million
* We have a liquidity and capital position amongst the strongest of any bank in Northern Europe
* We have no direct or indirect exposure to the US sub-prime mortgage market or structured credit obligations like CDO’s, CLO’s and SIV’s
* We have strong credit ratings from the leading international ratings agencies - Moody's and Fitch
We also subscribe to the Banking Code and you can also rest assured that with Icesave you are offered the same level of financial protection as every bank in the UK. You can find our registered address and regulatory details here. All of this means that when you save with Icesave you can rest assured your savings are in a safe place.
So, they look pretty liquid to me. I wish all this financial jitters would stop.
Peace of mind
We are part of Landsbanki, one of the largest quoted financial services providers in Iceland. Here are a few key facts you might like to know about Landsbanki:
* We were founded in 1886 and have been operating in the UK since 2000
* We are a large and diversified financial services provider active in retail and corporate banking, investment banking, capital markets services, asset and wealth management for private banking customers and deposit taking in over 17 countries including the UK, Ireland, USA, France, Holland, Luxembourg and Hong Kong
* We had total worldwide assets of €33.4 billion that included assets exceeding £5 billion in the UK and liquid assets of €8.9 billion (as at 31 December 2007)
* We made a stable pre-tax profit for 2007 of €520 million
* We have a liquidity and capital position amongst the strongest of any bank in Northern Europe
* We have no direct or indirect exposure to the US sub-prime mortgage market or structured credit obligations like CDO’s, CLO’s and SIV’s
* We have strong credit ratings from the leading international ratings agencies - Moody's and Fitch
We also subscribe to the Banking Code and you can also rest assured that with Icesave you are offered the same level of financial protection as every bank in the UK. You can find our registered address and regulatory details here. All of this means that when you save with Icesave you can rest assured your savings are in a safe place.
So, they look pretty liquid to me. I wish all this financial jitters would stop.
They quote that their asset base is £33.4 billion worldwide and £5 billion in the UK.
That in itself is meaningless. What counts is the quality of those assets. Don't forget that all the borrowing it has lent out appears on their balance sheet as assets. If some of those assets turn out to be poor or bad debts, then the business could have problems looming.
As has been already said, Northern Rock (and many American banks) had high levels of "Assets" in their balance sheets. The fact that mauch of those assets had suddenly become valueless was not obvious until about six months ago.
That in itself is meaningless. What counts is the quality of those assets. Don't forget that all the borrowing it has lent out appears on their balance sheet as assets. If some of those assets turn out to be poor or bad debts, then the business could have problems looming.
As has been already said, Northern Rock (and many American banks) had high levels of "Assets" in their balance sheets. The fact that mauch of those assets had suddenly become valueless was not obvious until about six months ago.
NoelWatson said:
munky said:
anonymous said:
[redacted]
That's only because Kaupthing was the one that complained about the factual inaccuracy. Landsbanki (the bank behind Icesave) is quite safe. Well, safer than a fair number of UK banks anyway.http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&am...
Ask yourself what drives the market and who the players are and what their motives may be. There is definite evidence of market manipulation which the UK FSA (and the icelandic equiv) is looking into, including a certain US bank shorting shares and purposely failing to deliver.
Do you have blind faith that the market is right? When shares of LEH fell 35% in 2 days or HBOS 24% in 4 days or MF Global 65% in 1 day, was the market correct in the fundamental valuation of those businesses, or was it a reaction based on rumour and speculation?
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