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Iceland announces relaunch of rescued banks
AFP - Tuesday, July 21
REYKJAVIK (AFP) - - Iceland unveiled a 1.5-billion-euro plan on Monday to recapitalise three major banks that it was forced to rescue when the financial crisis devastated its economy last year.
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The government will issue bonds to the three new lenders that were born from the ashes of Iceland's biggest commercial banks, pillars of its economy that were nationalised in October due to a worldwide credit crunch.
"The government is now in a position to capitalise all three of the new banks," Islandsbanki (formerly Glitnir), New Kaupthing and New Landsbanki, a statement from the finance ministry said.
Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir told reporters that the move was "a large step forward" for repairing the damage caused by the recent economic turmoil.
"The agreement we are now introducing is a large step forward in rebuilding the Icelandic economy. It is a large step in rebuilding the banks," Sigurdardottir said.
Thorolfur Matthiasson, economics professor at University of Iceland, told AFP that the goverment bonds would likely be bought by pension funds or other small investors.
"After the crash, the Icelandic economy needs restructuring, moving from imports to exports, which is quite a difficult task and impossible without strong banks," he said.
Under the plan, the government will offer controlling stakes in Islandsbanki and New Kaupthing to the old banks' creditors, while retaining small stakes in both for itself.
New Landsbanki, however, will remain in public ownership for the time being, Finance Minister Steingrimur Sigfusson said.
The British and Dutch government are among the creditors of Landsbanki, while the creditors of the failed Glitnir bank and Kaupthing are mainly European and American banks.
The issue will be worth a total of 270 billion kronur (1.5 billion euros, 2.12 billion dollars), the finance ministry statement said.
"This will limit the risks taken by the Icelandic state considerably, as it will no longer be the only actor behind the banking system as an owner," Finance Minister Sigfusson told journalists.
He said the creditor's stakes in the new banks would be controlled by "resolution committees" led by government-appointed chairmen until all the banks' assets have been sold.
The recapitilisation of the banks will take place on August 14, the finance ministry said.
It added that the sale of the stakes would be decided by the end of September and would be subject to approval from regulators.
Each bank will have a core tier-one capital ratio of around 12 percent, which is in line with international standards. The measure is used to indicate the ability of banks to absorb losses.
Some market watchers said the recapitalisation figure was surprisingly low given the scale of Iceland's financial system.
"Very low, if you compare to what the banks looked like two years ago, with balance sheets around 150 billion dollars or so," Carl Hammer, a currency strategist at SEB in Stockholm, was quoted as saying by Dow Jones Newswires.
"They (Iceland) seem to be on the right track to recovery," added Hammer.
The decision came only days after Iceland opted to begin talks on joining the European Union.
Iceland's parliament last Thursday voted in favour of applying for EU membership, opening the way for negotiations to begin with the 27-nation bloc.
The government has argued that joining the European Union would benefit Iceland, claiming it would bring an end to the economic turmoil that erupted after the collapse of its once-booming financial sector in October.
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