Monday, September 29, 2008

Chronicles Of Depression 2.0: #274: Iceland

Iceland seizes troubled Glitnir bank
Glitnir, threatened by collapse, is nationalized by Iceland's government, which buys a 75% stake for $878M.
REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) -- The Icelandic government said Monday that it has taken control of the struggling Glitnir bank, marking the first major banking nationalization for the country in the current turmoil.

The government said it bought a 75% stake in Glitnir, the country's third largest bank, for €600 million euros ($878 million) to ensure broader market stability after it suffered liquidity issues.

Central Bank of Iceland chairman David Oddsson said that Glitnir, which has operations in 10 countries, would have collapsed if the authorities had not intervened.

Emphasis added by me.

You wonder: Iceland? WTF?

Here's the explanation, in a prior post: Iceland: Greed Capital Of The World?

As much as people want to point to the United States as being a plague upon the global financial markets, it's clear that just about the entire financial world went on a decades-long spree of greed.

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