HM Treasury has issued a notice to provide guidance in relation to the Landsbanki Freezing order between Iceland and UK, which should smoothen the financial transactions between these two countries.
This order applies only to Landsbanki and does not freeze the funds of any other Icelandic banks.
Furthermore it does not affect Icelandic companies which have no links to Landsbanki.
Its purpose is to help safeguard the UK economy by freezing assets of Landsbanki in the UK.
Download the whole document (*.pdf file) here.
Not under the UK FSCS. You may well get it back under the IoM one (as it covers 100% up to £50k), but AFAIK they have a limit on the amount that they can levy per year.
Try asking at the following site:
http://www.lostyoursavings.co.uk/
Out of interest, when did you open the account?
>>It sounds as if you opened the account before the balances Kaupthing had in London were taken by HM Treasury on October 8th and given to ING Direct UK.
The balance wasn’t ‘taken’ by HMG, it was loaned out by Kaputhing – they don’t leave piles of cash wallowing in a vault. HMG gave UK taxpayers money to IMG to cover the UK depositors and is now a creditor to Iceland, just the same as KSF IoM.
Hello ken,
It sounds as if you opened the account before the balances Kaupthing had in London were taken by HM Treasury on October 8th and given to ING Direct UK.
If your account is with Kaupthing, Singer and Friedlander (Isle of Man) Ltd then you should consider joining these support groups:
http://www.lostyoursavings.co.uk
http://www.ksfiomdepositors.org
You’ll find out what’s going on there.
I am a uk citezen recently opened up a KE accounnt for some reason they openend it up in the isle of man i querried it and they told me the money was still safe it was only £1000 but thats a lot to me.
I feel duped but lucky i did not put more in
will i get it back?
P.S. A reply to Bromley86 (and for others interested) on the impact of the freezing order:
https://www.icenews.is/index.php/2008/10/29/portraits-of-icelandic-terrorists-exhibited/#comment-33240
(It is highly relevant to this thread, but the detailed conversation is going on over there.)
On Oct 19, 2008, Peter – London wrote in response:
>>to ‘We’ve been robbed’ who said:
>>So did I, The Derbyshire Building Society.
>
>Now you are taking the piss.
You really are a thoroughly unpleasant character, aren’t you Peter.
And, as we have established ad infinitum, someone as completely unconcerned with facts as you are with the suffering and hardship of others.
What this reasonable, law abiding person was explaining, is that they first put their money into Derbyshire (Isle of Man) Ltd owned by Derbyshire Building Society.
Derbyshire (Isle of Man) Ltd was then subsequently purchased by Kaupthing, i.e. at the end of 2007.
So both of you put your money in a building society.
And then Gordon Brown saw to it that this person’s money was ‘seized*’ in the UK as part of the monies held by Kaupthing, Singer and Friedlander.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article5003802.ece
*i.e. stolen for redistribution by HM Treasury as directed by Darling – most likely to ING. Of course the Banking (Special Provisions) Act 2008 a law on the statute books was used but theft is theft.
If I was you Peter, I would be hanging my head in shame at your comments in this thread.
Dave.
Reading your comments one thing is sure: you are in possesion of zero facts regarding this matter.
Many people bank offshore for a variety of reasons. Tax avoidance is NOT one of them. ALL OFFSHORE BANKS deduct tax at 20% at source. Where does this money go? For UK residents back to HM Gov.Exactly the same as onshore banks.
KSFIOM was listed as an A1 bank. It was not and still is not insolvent. The funds were deposited in KSFUK by order of the UK Gov. Why?
Those same funds have now been seized by HM Gov and are refusing to return them. This is an act of international piracy!
So you are happy to see the UK bail out mainland customers as they banked onshore with an ICELANDIC bank? So it’s not Iceland you have a problem with? Where do you think the funds to bail these people are coming from? Yes that’s right. KSFIOM customers money robbed from them. NOT the taxman.
To argue that if you bank outside the UK you deserve this is like arguing if you live in the Falklands you deserve to be invaded.
Incidently the law extends beyond opening a UK account without being resident in the UK…you cannot even hold an account at all. Anti-terrorist law in action again. What the hell as any of this to do with terrorism?
Most importantly no-one is asking or expecting a government handout. We are simply demanding that OUR money is returned to us. That will cost you nowt!
>Iceland, a tax heaven? Really! Nearly a third of the salaries there go in taxes!
No, the Isle of Man is a tax haven.
>confusing icelandic banks and the Icelandic government.
There is no confusion, they are one and the same, its the same in every country in the world. The banks have to be backed up by the central bank, no backing, then no bank. Iceland tried to walk away from the banks liabilities which is why Iceland’s assets were seized.
>So did I, The Derbyshire Building Society.
Now you are taking the piss.
Iceland, a tax heaven? Really! Nearly a third of the salaries there go in taxes!
People are confusing icelandic banks and the icelandic government. It was a bank chairman who said the bank could not pay. Well, it couldn’t. It was never any official from the government who said the country would not pay. The government took the banks over and one of the first things they said was that the individuals would get their money back. Both in Iceland and abroad.
So everybody who has an account with an icelandic bank will get his money back, it’s only a matter of time. The current situation is very difficult, so it is going to take some time, but everybody will get his money back.
So did I, The Derbyshire Building Society.
I had a one year Bond so couldn’t move it when it was taken over by Kaupthing.
>The reason my bank collapsed is because of a
Well, tough **** really. I put my money in a UK building society. Boring isn’t it.
Peter
And you’re a sucker for the the UK version of events.
Iceland never said they wouldn’t honour their obligations. Who said that was Alistar Darling, find me the quote from an Icelandic minister saying that.
The UK government should check before it carries out action. KSF IoM had many many Britizens citizens as depositers. Basically they are taken our money to fund UK depositors. And by the way all UK taxes have been paid on my savings.
And for you information in the Isle of Man we also pay UK national insurance. And call it National Insurance if you want but the reality is its just tax that goes into the pool with all other taxes. So even here in the Isle of Man we still pay some UK taxes. Likewise we are part of the UK customs zones and VAT revenues in the Isle of Man are pooled with VAT revenues in the rest of the UK. So we are contribtuing to UK tax revenues.
Also please be aware that all UK banks have offshore subsidiaries and that these gather billions of pounds of deposits that are channelled back to UK head offcies to be used for lending in the UK. So our money is funding the UK economy.
The reason my bank collapsed is because of a hasty and ill thought out policy on the part of the UK Treasury. All other jurisdictions have tried to keep Kaupthing subsidiaries in their countries solvent. Why did the UK act so quickly. Was HM government looking for somebody to blame? Easy to take assets of Iceland. Bet they wouldn’t have dared to do it to France or Germany or the US for that matter.
>Peter justify how the UK can use an anti terrorist law against Iceland? What has Iceland done to desrve this?<
It didn’t use the terror law, it used the section that deals with economic threats to the UK economy from actions by other countries or individuals.
You’re a sucker for Iceland’s PM ‘poor little puppy’ argument, eh?
What they did was refuse to honour their obligations to UK savers and it was totally justified to seize assets, the Icelandic Gov was trying to do the same and promising to protect domestic savers.
Iceland and it banks were bankrupt and irrevocably so, asking the UK Gov to bail them out. Well that wasn’t going to happen.
I expect that the IoM savers will get most of their money back, I think 30% has been recovered so far, if the UK can sell the assets of various Icelandic organisations (they have seized more funds today) they should be able to channel it back.
This is fair. But asking the UK taxpayer to repay non-UK account holders is outrageous, especially those based in a tax haven. And you were living there, so you knew exactly what you were doing.
Peter
I am a UK citizen working in the Isle of Man that is why I was banking in the Isle of Man
I pay UK tax because I have every intention of returning to the UK after working abroad and thereofre declare income earned in the UK to the UK Revenue. I stated that I pay UK tax to show you that people who bank offshore are not necessarily tax evaders. I bank in the Isle of Man as for the time being this is where I work. Similarly if I worked in Australia I am sure I would bank there.
The Isle of Man bank collapsed because the UK governemnt froze its assets. Not because I picked the wrong bank (for you information my funds were originally with the Derbyshire Building Society that got bought by Kaupthing)
For your information I am asking the Isle of Man government to resolve the situation. This involves speaking to the UK government who are the cause of this situation by there hasty and ill thought out actions.
Peter justify how the UK can use an anti terrorist law against Iceland? What has Iceland done to desrve this?
am sorry to say that Iceland has now become a financial pariah state.
Your current woes are only the tip of the “iceberg”, with Iceland becoming gradually more isolated from the rest of the world community.
Who in there right mind would ever invest in anything related to Iceland or Icelanders.
Most people in U.K suspect that Icelandic Banks have a link to the Russian Mafia and are implicated in money laundering
“I live and work in the Isle of Man ”
Then the IofM government is responsible for getting the money back. They regulate and protect their own banking system. If you are paying UK income tax then, why? you should be paying the IoM treasury, so have you been avoiding Tax in the IoM as well as tax avoiding in the UK?
The UK treasury has not taken your money, the Icelandic government is in default and the banks are in administration. If you have a problem with that contact the IoM authorities and then The Icelandic authorities. It has very little to do with the UK.
The fact that you are a UK citizen, paying UK tax only re-iterates that you should not have been banking off shore and you will have to deal with the consequence of your actions.
I’m stupid.. yet I’m not the one who banked offshore, with no saver protection with a nation that had serious questions raised about its viability.
I guess stupid is the new smart.
Peter,
I used to make horrible forum posts like you have done. Most of them I now regret as I have more information under my belt and realise I was wrong.
In future years maybe you will realise what a nasty person you were during all this. We have never been greedy, we have never even gambled, we pay all our taxes. Without a UK address we HAVE to use an offshore bank account (Until we had to open one, i had EXACTLY the same view of offshore accounts as you).
Now, I pity you Peter. In future years you will look back on your comments and realise just how much they hurt.
Mat
Peter
Get a life.
The KSF bank in the isle of man was a solvent and prfitable outfit. However it kept 60% of its deposits in London. Therefore when the UK Treasury placed Kaupthing UK in to administration it in effect made it impossible for KSF IoM to continue to operate.
People have bank accounts in the Isle of Man as if you leave the UK to live and work abroad you will find it very hard to open a bank account in the UK. However as the Isle of Man operates in sterling people open bank accounts there so they can leave money in sterling.
I live and work in the Isle of Man and I am a British citizen. I am no tax dodger or millionaire. I was sent here by my UK employer. I pay UK National insurance and pay UK tax on my UK income. Yet the UK Treasury has taken my money from KSF.
Please explain that to me?
Also Peter how stupid are you “As a non-UK taxpayer, you are not the UK tax-payers problem”.
Therefore are you saying if anything happened to Britons living and working abroad they should not be able to call on British embassies for help? As after all they are not paying UK tax so the UK taxpayer (who pays for British embassies) should not help them?
Please explain
i have just completed work in the new landsbanki head office and have 1 invoice which was due the day it went belly up plus another invoice owing now
in total £48000.00 where do i stand?? my very small business is likely to suffer, work for a bank? never again
“Why is peter so aggresive to hard working savers fro the uk.Savers should always look for the highest return on there savings after paying over the top labour government taxes on there earnings.”
You didn’t bank at at UK bank because you admit you were trying to avoid paying UK tax.
Why on earth should the UK tax payer help you out?
You knew what you were doing, you very deliberately put yourself in this position.
“I do not live in the UK and it is not possible for people like me to open UK Bank Accounts.”
If you don’t live in the I of M, why are you banking there? As a non-UK taxpayer, you are not the UK tax-payers problem.
Jen: “My mother lived and worked in the Isle of Man ”
Then the IofM government is responsible for getting the money back.
Peter…
My mother lived and worked in the Isle of Man and had to use a bank on the Island. She paid her taxes in the Isle of man, and when she lived in Britain she paid her taxes there. She was just a youth worker on the island and was not rich at all.
We are not tax dodgers she has no choice but to use a bank on the island. Peter, please get reading!! You will find out lots of interesting facts if you do. The vast majority of victims in this are honest people who stand to loose everything.
Peter – London – You are ignorant and ill informed.
On my previous comments it is KFS IOM UK SAVERS!!
Why is peter so aggresive to hard working savers fro the uk.Savers should always look for the highest return on there savings after paying over the top labour government taxes on there earnings.With what this labour gov allow them to keep they have a right to get what they can on interest on there savings.
Our gov started this Kaupthing IOM collapse by freezing the assets. Brown knows there is no political advantage for his party by helping these unfotunate KSF uk savers,so he’s leaving them to rot!!! Anyone that works hard and saves are normaly
sidelined by any socialist party.
Peter of London,
Before posting on here get your facts correct. There is a law that forces people like me to put our money offshore. I do not live in the UK and it is not possible for people like me to open UK Bank Accounts. I earned my money in the UK payed tax on it in the UK, it is UK currency but I cannot bank there.
Also all EU citizens with offshore accounts DO pay income tax on their interest.
Chipmunk: I am sorry to here your story.The Isle of Man left Norway in the year 1266, but if had been under Norway now, you could still have staid in Portugal – even if you had put your money in Islandic banks. All banks in Norway has since the beginning of the ninthies had to secure each customer for the amount of NKR 2.000.000 (about £180 000). Tree banks would have secured you £540 000. Ten banks would have been £1.800.000…
Glitnir is given credit to run until the situation of the bank is cleared out. The customers of Kaupthing will get their money in week nr. 44.
If you wonder what the Norwegian Taxpayers say about this – it is fully supported – we want it this way.
There are political issues in this. You say (if i understand you right), that you won´t go back to UK on benefits, but want´t to restart a day and night working life. You say you are to proud to let your country help you(?). I don´t support you at in this.
But I really hope you get your money back.
You don’t have banks in Portugal?
There is no law that says you have to put your money in an off shore account. There is also the often repeated warning to spread your investments. And leaving your money in a country with no protection scheme and a country that is completely out of its depth with banking debt, during a world wide banking crisis? Stupid, naive and greedy.
I am just one of those people…
10 years serving my country in the RAF ..
30 years self employed working all hours and paying UK taxes and all Stamps etc…
Never took one penny from the government and gave employment to others.
Finally at 62 retired to sunny Portugal having put my life savings into an Off shore bank because that s the law…we cannot open UK bank accounts without utility bills etc…
one month later…kaupthing closed and I lost everything…
Now I will go back to UK but not on benefits Peter..I am too proud for that….I will again in my sixties work day and night …
What have you done for your country Peter…??
Who is actually “responsible” for isle of Man?
“Ironically, many KSFIOM & KEIoM depositors are now financially supporting the 100% compensation of UK mainland savers in collapsed Icelandic banks”
Ironic, isn’t it. that the taxpayers you have been leeching off, by avoiding paying tax, are now being asked to support your greed.
Normal, hard working people eh?
People who deliberately set out to avoid British regulation, protection and taxes.
You will not get much help from UK authorities after investing in a non-EU bank in a bank located outside the both the UK and EU.
[…] full story >>> […]
Kaupthing Isle of Man (ksfiom) Depositors Action Group – http://www.ksfiomdepositors.com
THE BRITISH SAVERS LEFT IN LIMBO BY GORDON BROWN 16 October 2008
While Gordon Brown has been taking centre stage amongst European leaders who have been quick to praise his decisive actions to shore up the UK economy and protect the interests of British savers, many British citizens have been left in limbo by his actions.
The assets of Kaupthing Edge UK were transferred to ING Direct last week with no consideration of the devastating consequences for savers with Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander in the Isle of Man (KSFIOM). The diplomatic breakdown between Iceland and the UK, which has resulted in 60% of KSFIOM’s funds being frozen in the UK, has left thousands of normal, hard-working people with no idea of whether any of their money will ever be returned.
In the meantime, the 3,000 savers of KSF in the UK are being sent the paperwork to claim 100% compensation on their deposits.
Here are some stories of the less fortunate:
Ruth Burridge worked seven days a week for more than 20 years running a seaside pub to put aside the cash in a Derbyshire Building Society offshore deposit account. The 87-year-old widow, who has lost almost her entire £600,000 life savings because of the Icelandic banking crash, is likely to spend the rest of her days in a care home.
Her nest-egg will virtually disappear because the Derbyshire’s offshore accounts were taken over last November by KSF IOM. She said: ‘I can’t believe this is happening. I’ve worked hard all my life and never asked anyone for a penny. I put my money in a building society I thought was safe.’
Angela – who did not want to give her second name – is originally from Essex. She left school at 17 and worked hard holding down several jobs and renovating flats in her spare time. Eventually selling everything, she moved to Los Angeles to fulfill her dream of studying drama. “Stupidly enough I put absolutely every penny I had in the world into Kaupthing, I don’t even have a spare few thousand hanging around anywhere else. We are weeks away from being declared bankrupt and losing our home, I am numb and shaking. At a time when I should be doing everything in my power to be proactive I am totally disabled by fear”.
A Pashtoon, who declined to give his name, served with the British Army in Afghanistan, but lost his arm and sustained shrapnel damage from a land mine in Paktia province in June 2006. He was medically discharged and given a lump sum payment (fully taxed), and pension. This £68k was deposited in the Derbyshire BS(IOM) which later transferred to KSF(IOM) last year. The money was to be used to facilitate a small holiday home in the country for his retirement so that he “could spend the rest of my life in peace, and nature.” Now it’s all gone.
Due to money laundering regulations, many UK nationals working and retired overseas have no alternative but to bank offshore and most British citizens saving this way have secured their money through hard work, inheritance or by running businesses which have created UK jobs and contributed huge sums in UK taxes. Others work for charities, international agencies and the armed forces or invested in KSF IOM through pension schemes run by AXA, Aegon Scottish Equitable, Royal Skandia and Prudential. Many are local Manx residents who use the island’s financial institutions as high street banks.
While the Isle of Man does have an individual saver compensation scheme of £50,000, it is unclear how this will be funded by a government which has also stated it has £2 million in KSFIOM. Only time can tell the effect this situation will have on the credibility of the small island, whose interests on the international arena are represented by the United Kingdom, as a financial entity.
Ironically, many KSFIOM & KEIoM depositors are now financially supporting the 100% compensation of UK mainland savers in collapsed Icelandic banks.
The UK Government is currently misleading the public at large by positioning itself as the saviour of all British savers. This is fundamentally untrue. Whilst British savers whose savings are on the mainland are being protected all British savers whose savings are offshore are being left to fend for themselves.
If the UK government is sincere in wanting to protect the needs of all British savers, it needs to address this issue as a matter of urgency. The KSF IOM Depositors Action Group will be presenting a petition to the UK government, the Isle of Man Government and the Icelandic Government on Monday 20 October 2008 to highlight the situation being faced by thousands of such savers and to suggest a list of actions that need to be taken to help resolve this situation.
For more information: http://www.ksfiomdepositors.com or call XX on XX
NOTES TO EDITORS
On 8 October 2008, The Isle of Man Financial Supervision Commission suspended KS&FIOM’s banking license, accordingly KS&FIOM has ceased to trade as a bank. The provisional liquidation is necessary because of KS&FIOM’s financial position and to ensure that the best interests of customers and creditors are served.
On 9 October 2008 the Isle of Man Court made an Provisional Liquidation Order in relation to Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander (Isle of Man) Limited (“KS&FIOM”). Michael Simpson of PricewaterhouseCoopers was appointed as Liquidator Provisionally of KS&FIOM.
The Derbyshire Building Society sold its Isle of Man business to Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander in November 2007.
It starts to look like Brownie’s cabinet of horror stole the wrong bank when they stole Kaupting, the one they wanted to lay their hands on was Icesave (Landisbankinn), where UK institutionos had billions outstanding, and the saw that the 20K eur plan would never cover the losses.