I was hoping if we ever get as far as a loan – it would be you rather than us ; )

Terry wonder if there is an agreement that Nordic taxpayers should pay out for the risk UK/NL savers took. Well, I can forward him the frequent email I get from “the Dutch State Lottery” – which should have similar value.

I didn’t say that the UK government are acting with generosity, because I don’t think they are at all. I would like them to act with generosity (a lot of it). Unfortunately, I am not in the UK government!

I think the situation calls for a mini version of the Marshall Plan.

This will be the swaps thing. I’ve a sketchy memory of it, but IIRevenvaguelyC, the Central Bank did make use of the Nordic swaps, but we’re talking hundreds of thousands of euros rather than billions.

Likewise, I seem to remember Iceland was excluded from a Nordic-US swap agreement that came into effect shortly before the crisis.

So, in essence, I think that statement was incorrect, in that there was not an agreement that the Nordics would step in and help Iceland by the amount that would be required if it experienced a collapse.

“Whether this is an unsurprising or a justifiable tactic to you, is frankly irrelevant.”

It was an opinion – and as such has relevance. It would be a pretty ‘thin’ message board if opinion were excluded! Even banal banter is officially welcomed by the management. : )

Alex said

Don’t worry Terry, a bit of banal banter is good for the soul!

http://www.icenews.is/index.php/2009/10/09/a-year-after-the-storm-iceland-pm-on-bbc-news/#comment-96070

Unfortunately you disregard the main point within my post –

“In the extremely unlikely event that the Icelandic government wasn’t in a position to meet all claims, all the Nordic countries have an arrangement where they will step in and help any one of the participating countries that are in trouble so there is an additional layer of reassurance and cover.”

http://blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2008/04/01/icesave-how-safe-are-your-savings-facts-and-myths/

If there is such an arrangement – why the need for a UK/NL loan?

That depends on your understanding of what defines generosity in this matter :)
Part of what you interpret as an act of generosity is the tactic of using the loan blockade as part of a strategy to force an agreement by an chronically indebted nation to repayment terms which which it regards as punitive.
The details of the Icesave term issues have been exhaustively discussed in minute detail elsewhere.

” it would be unsurprising, real-politik etc. What is the difference between Icelandic ships cutting the lines of trawlers fishing in your waters, and UK cutting credit lines of Iceland consequential to your internet banks ‘phishing’ within UK/NL? (sorry about that one!).”

Whether this is an unsurprising or a justifiable tactic to you, is frankly irrelevant.
The matter I mentioned was that the loan blockade is a fact.
The fact that it is a fact, was the relevance in my earlier reply.

Hedge funds might still be involved in the shorting, although the $14bn that the Icelandic banks shorted by seems like a lot.

This is true, the scams are so big no one really knows what to expect any more, this is like a minefield of all kinds of financial fraud,
it turns out it was the Icelandic banks that attacked the Icelandic currency Krona, not some hedge funds as we have been told, it would not surprize me if they made some bets on the Isk falling, this is what should be expected of bankers, and one of the reasons why we should not bail them out, i hope if there is a second “dip” in the resession in USA and UK, the people refuse to pay the casino debts of
some bankers.