Landsbanki customers’ hopes of news dashed
Wednesday 15th October 2008, 2:30PM BST.
Joint administrators Lee Manning, left, and Rick Garrard were unable to release an expected ‘significant’ statement yesterday. (0656200)
ANXIOUS Landsbanki Guernsey customers have to wait another 72 hours for news of what is happening to their money.
They suffered further frustration yesterday evening when a ‘significant’ statement that was due to be released by the administrators was suddenly pulled. It is now understood that it will not be released until Friday because of ‘circumstances out of the administrators’ control’.
Journalists were assured shortly after 6pm that it would be issued within minutes. Then, at 7.15pm, that was put back to the end of the week. Treasury and Resources minister Charles Parkinson, who knew about the impending statement, said: ‘It’s disappointing that the announcement has been postponed, and I do not know why it has been.’
Joint administrators Rick Garrard and Lee Manning, from Deloitte and Touche, had been expected to announce concrete developments – having previously said they would not make further comments until they had something definitive to tell depositors.
The news of the delay is likely to cause anger among investors in Landsbanki Guernsey who are desperate for information on how much of their money will be returned to them.
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Heaven forbid! So….now the administrators have not got control of ‘matters’!! What a farce, people need to know exactly what is going on and put investors ou of their misery and be up front and honest.
An utter disgrace and shame on Guernsey.
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Joe and I worked so hard to put savings somewhere safe. Beginning with Chelsea-Guernsey which was then taken over by Landsbanki. He has been so ill these past seven years, and we put off reviewing our finances ’til I feel better’ he said. My husband died in May. At 75 I just am sick with worry. How stupid we were to think that the Financial Services of Guernsey were responsible people
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Jill
Its quite possible, and I would suggest probable, that the administrators were ordered, perhaps by the legal process, to delay the announcement that they were intending to make. It is also possible that new information came to light which would have affected what they were intending to announce. Very frustrating for those desperate for news, but I don’t believe for one moment that an announcement would have been delayed for anything other than sound legal reasons. The administrators have a job to do and a process to follow and it would be reckless for them to act in any other way.
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The only forward now, if this island wishes to remain credible, is for the people in power to guarantee all investments.
People dont invest their money for others to make longshots with it.
If they wished to. They are more than able to access a booky either physically or online.
Come on GUERNSEY.
Why is this even being spoken about.
This islands reputation is being leathered from all angles.
But I bet the pople that are receiving 30 pence in the pound back on their life savings are confident about the advances from those that are in charge.
A consortium should be set up, immediately, by all of them and legal action should commence.
Is this island trying to state than it is their own fault for investing here.
If this the case then finance will be packing up and taking their business where the activity is.
Elsewhere where it is SAFE AND SECURE.
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DAVID
My statement to you is:
You sound as though you stand to lose nothing, and you are a part in GUERNSEY PLC?
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Paul
How silly will your comments look if the depositors do recover 100% of their deposits ? Its futile to waste money on legal fees until a loss to depositors is confirmed. These things take time to unravel and the Administrators are very capable. They are working for the depositors and I think you should let them get on with it.
And no, I don’t have anything to lose in Landsbanki. I’m afraid that their interest rates flagged to me that they were desperate for cash and I wouldn’t put my savings in an Icelandic bank. Shame others didn’t realise that you don’t get excessive interest rates without excessive risk. The rules of finance may well have changed in recent weeks but one rule remains firm…risk equals reward.
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David, your final paragraph is very true. I also saw the rates that Landsbanki were offering and kept well clear!
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Why should the States of Guernsey reimburse Landsbanki depositors? More importantly, why should the tax payer (because that who the States really is) help out those who were greedy enough to go after an interest rate which was to good to be true? Remember BCCI paid great rates. Unfortunately the mugs that time around were the States Electricity Board
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It is hard not to disagree with anything David, Greg and Jeff have said.
What strikes me about the majority of postings on the LG thread on Moneysupermarket is the reluctance of almost all of the posters to accept that they have some responsibility for the position they are in. I could only see one who acepts some personal responsibility.
It seems that everyone else is to blame and anyone else, icluding the Guernsey tax payer can put their hands in their pockets to compensate them for every penny they might lose.
It is a source of amazement that so many can, particularly in recent months, put such significant sums of money, into an offshore bank, with so little checks or research,and with so little idea of the warning flags that have been flying for so many months.
Still they are in good company – the local councils etc and Audit Commission who also blame everyone bar themselves for any potential loss.
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Landsbanki – Kaupthing – all the same plot, really. I’m a Jersey saver with a mercifully small exposure to Kaupthing in IOM, where their DCS might eventually recover my position. Those with large deposits may suffer a massive penalty if iceland doesn’t come to the rescue [because nobody else will].
So … where do we put our money? Where CAN we put our money, when UK institutions won’t touch us? Where can we get any form of guarantee? And let’s please remember that these Banks are supposed to be looking after our deposits, not gambling with them.
In the current crisis, every institution (and I’m talking about BIG ones) I have recently had money with (in Jersey, IOM and UK) is in trouble to some extent. What’s your magical answer to savings that actually beats inflation? Tin box under the bed, anyone?
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