Depositors in the unsecured Guernsey-based Landsbanki Bank that went bankrupt after the corrupt Icelandic government pulled the plug on it by nationalising its parent company in 2008 are to receive another 17.5% of their money back in February 2011.
The administrators Deloitte will be writing to depositors shortly to tell them how to claim the money. Here are the details:
- The fourth payment of 17.5p/£, which will be made “as soon as possible after 7 February 2011 and after receipt of each depositor’s account details“. They’ll shortly be writing to depositors about the process for the payment, and including a statement of account as at 19 January 2011.
- A bit of a surprise for EUSD depositors: the Liquidators will be rebating all of the EUSD retention tax withheld from those depositors since the bank went into Administration to them, including it in the next payment, and changing to an Exchange of Information basis for all EU depositors for all the accrued interest paid since 7-Oct-2008.
- Sale of Heritable debt: there’s a long section setting out their rationale for that.
- Expected final outcome: 87- 91p/£.
- Future distributions: there now won’t be a vote on the timing of future distributions, and there won’t be any more distribution until the final one (unless the legal actions in Iceland miraculously come good), which is now expected to be “the end of 2011 at the earliest“.
Some previous payments have already been made to depositors. Depositors will be expecting a final payment at the end of 2011, but more likely in 2012, which will be a division of the last of the assets that Deloitte will have sold off.
When the liquidation is finalised in about a year, depositors will hope to have received a total of between 87% and 91% of the amount they lost with the failed bank on the unsafe island of Guernsey. That will leave between 9% and 13% of their money lost forever.
Guernsey lacked depositor protection when the Landsbanki collapsed. The UK refused to help its crown colony guarantee the deposits in its failed poorly regulated banks. Legal action is in progress against the corrupt Icelandic government who nationalised the parent company thus making the wobbly Guernsey-based subsidiary insolvent. The greedy administration on Guernsey, despite trousering huge profits from its “offshore” banking industry, and headed by the shadowy and oft-globe-trotting Lyndon Trott, also refused to cough up any money. However, they then decided that all future deposits on the unsafe island of Guernsey would be “guaranteed” — yeah, righty-ho Lyndon. We believe you. Your credibility is right up there with Robert Mugabe mate.
To any casual readers who may happen on this and might be wondering if banking in Guernsey is problematical in any way, how can I put this………. run Forrest, run!
Do not invest your money in any Guernsey-based bank or financial institution. Guernsey has a banking “guarantee” it probably can’t afford to honour. Banks on Guernsey have gone bankrupt with ZERO support from Lyndon Trott and his cronies already. People have lost money. Guernsey is NOT a safe place to bank. If you have a high risk profile, try Nigeria or Afghanistan.
If you are Landsbanki Guernsey investor, you are damn lucky that another 17.5% of your money will be winging its way to you next month. Enjoy it, there wont be much more! You WILL have lost money by the time all this has finished.
If you want to find out more about what happened with the bankrupt bank on Guernsey, see here: Banking in Guernsey