Dear Sir/Madam,
I feel that I must write to you in the hope that by publishing this
letter, your readers will understand the situation that many British
Citizens find themselves in as a result of the nationalisation of
Kaupthing, Singer and Friedlander IOM.
My wife and I are British Citizens who have retired to France. As “non
residents”, we ARE NOT ALLOWED to open a bank account with a British
bank, consequently we had to invest our savings “off shore” in the Isle
of Man. Incidentally, the interest on these accounts ARE taxed by the
United Kingdom Government.
We are not what you would call wealthy, and on a global scale the sum
that we stand to lose is small by comparison (£70,000), but to us it
represents the difference between living in retirement, and existing in
retirement.
We always worked hard, and saved money, so that we would not be a
burden on the state in our later years, but now, it seems that
returning to Britain and living on benefits, is our only option. It is
just as though someone has wiped out all of our years of saving and
planning for our old age.
When we made our investment in Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander, the
deciding factor, was the Parental Guarantee, given, that would
guarantee ALL of our savings if the Bank ran into difficulties…And
now that this is what has hapenned, and the Icelandic government has
nationalised the bank, we discover that your government seems unwilling
to honour that given guarantee.
Clearly the whole world is facing difficult times, but surely the
honourable course of action would be for the Icelendic Government to
ensure that all those savers affected by this should have their monies
returned in full.
For further information, and to give you some idea of the numbers
involved in this disaster, there has been a website established by
depositors in Kaupthing, Singer and Friedlander IOM, which is :-
www.ksfiomdepositors.netgenius.co.uk
I trust that you will publish this plea on behalf of ourselves and many
other stranded investors.
Paul and Linda Irving.
We have asked Mr Haarde directly on our website about his intent to honour guarantees given by the banks he nationalised – those guarantees should now pass to him.
The various websites shouting out on behalf of stranded investors are currently seeking investigative financial journalists to unravel the happenings in Iceland, and what the UK government – the legal representatives of the Channel Islands and IOM abroad – are doing about it.
I was working in the UK – now I am living in Denmark – and I am still able to keep my bank account (even saving account) in the UK (HSBC). Probably I would not be able to open a new one in the UK now – however there is nothing what can stop me to open saving account in Denmark (the same like you can open saving account in France as a residents-it is not at all problem in current age to transfer money from the UK to France). Yes – my saving account is on about 3,5 percent or something like that – not 15 percent or how much – I am not sure how much Kaupthing…….SO STRANGE….PROBABLY JUST EXCUSE. I understand that you are angry that your money are frozen on that account now (nobody said surely that you will not be paid at all)….however you invested into high interest account (you could open that low interest in France) – so you should have supposed higher risk. I suppose you will be paid once – everything depends on how much will get the banks for their assets and how will be doing the Icelandic economy in the future – and these depends on how much will help other countries to Icelnad (instead of blaming it, swearing and causing panic – what did your prime minister and what can cause only low price of those assets and decrease of their economy). SO – YOUR COUNTRY SHOULD BE THE FIRST ONE, WHICH WOULD HELP TO ICELAND….at least if your government is interested into you….REGULAR SAVERS AND CITIZENS. HOWEVER – I DOUBT ABOUT IT…..and I realized when I lived in the UK that your nation more and more blindly listen to your politicians (instead of having its own opinion)…..WEAK UP, BRITS!!!!!!!
P.S.: I would be very grateful for your comment and your opinion (unlike your politicians), Paul and Linda. Many thanks.
Friend of mine had to go through hell on earth when he moved to England. Because he and his English wife could not afford a house or flat, they moved in with the step parents. He has a good job, but with a kept woman and spiralling housing prices there simply wasn’t enough money to require a lease.
So he had a highly paid job in IT, but no bank account to deposit his salary :) So he was paid in a Bankers draft but no one would cash it since he had no account anywhere, took him some time and weeks of agony till he found out that he was supposed to buy a start-up kit in back in Denmark. But that was too late now he was in England.
Moving from Denmark to the UK you get a chock, things that are simple in Denmark like getting a bank account is nearly impossible. And as for the NHS; well have faith in god and hope you won’t get ill in the UK.
I can understand why people find it easier to get an account in Isle of Man, rather then the UK.
Someone said I had a chip on my shoulder, well I lived in Londen 2 years, and the chip is huge!!
It is not at all problem to open a Passport Account at the HSBC – you need just a pasport and you can open it even before you move to the UK. Yes – it is slight discrimination (as everything in the UK) – you have to pay account fee 6 pounds per month (normally in the UK current account are fee free).THIS IS NOT AN ADVERTISE ON HSBC – just advice for those who excuse they cannot get bank account in the UK. I lived in the UK also nearly two years – and I can say I was quite lucky that I never needed any help from NHS…..however this is for another discussion
Hi,
Just for GreatDane. I’m a British resident of Iceland, with an Icelandic partner. I’m in a fairly rare situation in that I really see both sides to this argument, per example, I bank with Kaupþing and my money is safe.
In the interest of interesting debate, please stop the “My country’s better than yours!” It’s becoming tantamount to xenophobia!
These things happen everywhere, I must admit the ease of getting things to happen in Iceland is bewilderingly simple compared to the maze of the UK, but please remember that these are two different systems! I’m aware through Danish friends and Icelandic residents of Denmark also that the system is different there also.
As for the health service, I must take you up on that. When my partner moved to the UK, unemployed and unaware of the system, she became quite ill. I have to say the way the men and women of the NHS looked after her and helped her get better for no cost made me proud.
By all means, let’s debate the issue at hand and critically discuss the current economic situation and problem affecting people of Iceland and those affected in the Netherlands and United Kingdom. Let’s not resort to pseudo-nationalistic mudslinging at the earliest opportunity!
And for the record, I feel sorry for anyone that has to endure London!
The UK government are a slippery bunch for sure. So slippery that many Brits seek to keep their savings out of their grasp. One never knows what “Grasping Gordon” will dream up next to rape our pockets.
Banking with banks of a trusted (well, previously) country such as Iceland, in a Crown Dependancy that is Guernsey (Channel Islands) gave many people a feeling of security.
Sir – I dont know where you get your 15% figures from – try 6.5%, the same as on the UK high street. Many Landsbanki Guernsey investors had no choice (due to the UK’s stupid laws) other than to bank in the Channel Islands. Many depositors were Guernsey residents.
These are not tax-dodging millionaires we are talking about – these are decent, hard working psople who put their faith into a reputable banking system from a trusted country, who exported itself around the world claiming they were good custodians of our cash.
Landsbanki Guernsey deposits were 100% guaranteed by Landsbanki Iceland; we trusted that. Now Landsbanki Iceland has been nationalized, that guarantee passes by default to Geir Haarde. It is his – and the Icelandic governments – responsibility to pay back the shortfall on overseas Icelandic bank deposits. He defacto accepted that responsibility when he nationialized Karpthung, Glitnir and Landsbanki and plunged Iceland into crisis by doing so.
>things that are simple in Denmark like getting a bank account is nearly impossible
I went into my local bank with a Brazilian friend and opened a bank account. No previous address or references. It was easy.
Um
Not to be unrespectful or doubtful of the British expats banking with IoM branches. This may be an issue where detailed knowledge is at play, but I do know people from abroad who opened accounts in UK a decade ago during a business visit, who still have them operational to date. I just saw an account statement a month or two ago.
They might well be something requiring specific knowledge about this, I don’t honestly know. But it’s funny foreign people can get and maintain their accounts in UK banks easily, even without ever having an address in there.
Bug
My partner is an icelandic citizen (ie not an EU citizen) and has not had a problem setting up bank accounts so, Great Dane, I fail to understand why your friend from an EU country with a UK wife had problems. It doesn’t make sense! You are talking nonsense.
….and as for your comments on the NHS, you clearly haven’t been in the UK for a while.
Radek – my Icelandic partner banks free at FirstDirect – part of HSBC, so again I don’t understand why you are being charged?
Paul – I just know that at any other account than Passport I was asked to provide either proof of address (utility bill or similar….imposible for somebody who just came to the UK…anyway how to pay utility bills without bank account) and sometimes also regular income (but how you can have regular income if you have no bank account to send it) – these conditions are discriminating for non-UK-residents – or at least for those who cannot ask somebody to put his/her name on utility bill of somebody else. There is only one exclusion – Passport with fee. To be honest – I have not ever heard about FirstDirect – and it is true that I opened my bank account in the UK before three years…..so maybe time has changed. However – the main point what I do not understand in the article is, why they complaint they could not put their money anywhere else than in Isle of Man….if they are French residents, for sure they can put their money on French bank account (where the French government has to guarantee the deposit). That is what I do not understand and and consider it like misleading.
@Paul: Basically he encountered the same catch22 as Radek did, “proof of residence” by supplying a utility bill was needed to open an account. Since he lived with his parents in law, there was no utility bill to present to the bank, and therefore no bank account. This was really sad as he already had a job , that yielded a high salary, much too high to be paid in cash.
I worked at a office of our bank in London and of course never had problems with banking.
But I am not talking nonsense he had enormous problems, until he eventually got sorted out somehow. Maybe his girlfriend went with him to the bank, and sorted thing out.
“….and as for your comments on the NHS, you clearly haven’t been in the UK for a while.”
I was mugged in London, and taken to the emergency ward, even if I was badly bruised and had a concussion I quickly realized, I would be better off taking my chances at home in bed. A chaotic and dirty place like that can’t be of much help. this was in 2005, things can have improved considderably since then, but somehow I doubt it.
Interesting comments, all, but surely the whole point of the original letter was to highlight the plight of a large number of savers who invested in Kaupthing, Singer and Friedlander IOM, and who now face the loss of their savings, and the dishonourable manner in which the Parental Company guarantee has so far been ignored by the Icelandic government.
Interesting discussions!
I am international active, do have also bank account at Landsbanki in Reykjavik – which I could get only, after having registered for a natioanal SOCIAL NUMBER, my friend in Iceland assisted me (Thanks Maggi!). But it took weeks (because many foreign workers needed a social number ant these days) and that saved me from investing into shares of Icelandic companies…
SO EVERTHING IS FO A REASON….
Anyway- if one of you wants to open an EURO bank account here in Austria, it is quite simple:
Come here, go to a bank and you can open a bank account! – if you do not have the problem, that almost no bank offeres the documents in English….
Beside this small problem, it is very easy.
Paul and Linda Irving: all the best for your money, but if you are living in France, an EURO saving account would be advisable, also because trades cannot easily devaluate the EURO.
Another example, a Polish friend opened a bank account at Natwest. All the literature and documentation was in Polish. A bank card can be used in the UK or Poland to withdraw money. She opened this account while on a visit to the UK.
The process was painless. It really does beg the question of why UK citizens bank in the IoM.
Without any hint of zenophobia, does’nt it always seem to be easier for foreign nationals to get consideration from the British Govenmnent/Establishment than British Nationals.
The political correctness police flourish in the UK.
From another IceNews reader:
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am a depositor in Landsbanki Guernsey, a subsiadiary of Landsbanki hf.
I read with great interest your article on Paul and Linda Irving, headed “Letter from Icenews reader”
We the depositors in Landsbanki Guernsey are in exactly the same situation.
I am in deep trouble since my life savings were in Landsbanki Guernsey and I am left destitute. My story is made worse since Peter Browning, Head of Corporate Banking, Landsbanki Guernsey lied to me – please see link below.
This is the article on me in the Guernsey Press:
http://www.thisisguernsey.com/2008/10/11/they-said-i-would-get-my-money/
Please assist to publicise my plight to the Icelandic authorities.
I am going to loose my house and my life.
thanking you in advance,
Avinash Ragoowansi
Oddssons saga
Gordon Brown, Britains jarl
loaned Oddsson little gold,
froze his ships before winter.
Next sought luck in Novgorod.