Icesave Freezes UK Bank Accounts

Icesave Freezes UK Bank Accounts

news.sky.com

Icelandic internet bank Icesave has stopped UK customers withdrawing their money after its parent company has been nationalised by the Icelandic government.

The online bank is part of Iceland's second biggest bank Landsbanki, which is now under government control after sweeping new regulatory powers have come into force.

The notice on the bank's website said: "We are not currently processing any deposits or any withdrawal requests through our Icesave internet accounts.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.icesave.co.uk

I don't have much to say as of yet. I'm still digging into what's going on. I wonder if this is for online only or can the customers get their money from a branch location. 150,000 people not able to get to their own money!

If you click the icesave link it is definitely down.

Wonder what the day's going to bring over here in the states when our markets open.

news.sky.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by Simon_Boudreaux


Simon this is truly one of the scariest posts I have ever seen on ATS, what will their government do to supplement the needs of the people who are unable to access their funds? I can see this spreading quickly into a world-wide situation, and there will be NO safety in numbers with this one!

I am in the US. I have had CNBC on all night. They did state that Iceland's bank had a "meltdown" but mentioned nothing else. I wonder if they are being censored about this or if they decided the US waking up to this info would force a bank run here which would be really bad.

reply to post by seejanerun


I see a breaking news banner on CNN's politics page that reads..

Iceland's central bank says it has fixed the exchange rate of its currency to try to stablize the country's economy, AP reports.

Nothing about freezing accounts.

Iceland is getting a $5.4 billion emergency loan from Russia.

Brief mention of their banks not allowing deposits or withdrawals and nothing since.

reply to post by space cadet


I admit I'm nothing near a financial whiz so I wasn't sure if the feeling I had when I read it was justified or not. I almost didn't post it because I didn't know if it was bad or just me being paranoid again.

Nice to know it scared someone else.

reply to post by Maya00a

Iceland is getting a $5.4 billion emergency loan from Russia.

5.4 Billion from RUSSIA? I didn't think they had that kind of money 'just lying around'.


Maybe they just covertly purchased Iceland

Originally posted by Maya00a
Iceland is getting a $5.4 billion emergency loan from Russia.

Where did you here that Maya? I'm not finding it anywhere.




Edit to fix quote.

[edit on 7-10-2008 by Simon_Boudreaux]

It's just a technical glitch... nothing to see here folks.... carry on
Icesave insists it is business as usual

A spokeswoman for the website, which has 350,000 customers in the UK and Netherlands, insisted customers had been unable to access their accounts due purely to a "technical glitch".

Bloomberg and BBC are reporting the Russian loan.

www.bloomberg.com...

[edit on 7-10-2008 by Maya00a]

Yes I was going to say perhaps they just mean through the internet banking itself, they don't mean they wont take deposits and issue withdrawals at the actual bank.Do they even have an actual bank?

I've read a few articles through Google News about this. There are a couple references to people moving their money yesterday to new banks, so I'm thinking it may have just been internet banking.

However, a couple things drew my eye.
1.) There are only references to UK accounts being frozen - what about Icelandic or other country accounts?
2.) Does it seem a little coincidental that in the same time frame that the Icelandic government took over the bank the accounts were frozen?

I do believe that there is a LOT of information being withheld to prevent panic in the US and other Western countries this morning.

Or.... the official story is the truth... there is a technical glitch. It makes some sence.

The Central Bank of Iceland has fixed the exchange rate of the country's currency, the krona, to try to stablize the domestic economy.

- www.iht.com...

That would probably mean that Icesave had to make some unexpected changes to their system for UK other foreign customers, causing a 'techincal glitch'. We should now for sure soon, when normal access is restored.

CNBC just said that Iceland seized this bank. That is the exact words they used. I equated it to our Fed/govt and what they have done over the last week or two. They did say though. I would think more would be made of this.

There is some speculation that the Russian loan has been brewing for about 3 months now. I have no idea where this information comes from but seems quite possible at this point. Some people I know suggest that there is good chance that ISK will become hardwired to the EUR, paving the way for semi-forced eurotization in time to come.

( My apologies for poor English, I'm inventing words as I translate )

[edit on 7-10-2008 by Manawydan]

news.bbc.co.uk...

Customers of the Icesave internet bank have been warned they will probably have to claim compensation for money held in their savings accounts. The authorities in the UK are preparing for the bank's parent in Iceland, Landsbanki, to be declared insolvent.

I'd recommend withdrawing a little cash from any bank accounts just in case a similar 'software glitch' affects your bank!

Icebank...frozen...too bad its not April 1st or this thread would be one of the funniest ever.

It's been about 12 hours since I started this thread and the Icesave website is still not accepting deposits or withdrawals. and Sky News is saying that customers may need to apply to get their money back. What? Why do they need to apply to get their money back? Where did it go to begin with?

For the first time since the credit crunch began, British banking customers with savings in troubled banks may need to apply to get their money back.

Sky News

This is insanity.

If word gets out through the US and Europe that governments are freezing bank accounts it is sure to cause the largest mass run on banks in the history of finance.


Very dangerous ground here.