‘Everything I had saved could be gone’
Wednesday 8th October 2008, 2:54PM BST.
A JERSEYWOMAN with £31,000 invested in an Icelandic-owned Guernsey bank could lose her life savings after the bank was placed into administration.
Belinda Gracia (31) was told yesterday that the money in her account with Landsbanki was frozen and that no decisions were likely to be made before next January.
And it is possible that the investors in the Guernsey subsidiary of the Icelandic bank could be the only people in the world to lose their savings, as Guernsey has no depositor protection scheme in place.
Miss Gracia (32), who is a substance misuse support worker, has been saving the money since she was 17 and intended to use it to put down as a deposit on a flat. Her money ended up in the Guernsey bank after she saw an advertisement last July offering a high interest rate through the online assessment website.
• Picture: Belinda Gracia
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Hello,
This is me I am trying to get a rough figure of how many people are affected by this in Jersey can anyone help?
Sky news are interested in running a story on it but they need a approx figure on how many.
Maybe if we get media hype around this it will make the government to take action.
Thanks Belinda
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Me and my wife just had a baby two weeks ago and the joy turned into despair on Tuesday when we saw that all our live savings of £65,000 may be gone. This is a daylight roberry, the responsible and thieves should be prosecuted.
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Icesave victims,
Go and see an advocate. Get him to find out if there are any icesave assets in the Channel Islands. If so, get the relevant first minister to freeze those assets. (This is what the chancellor has done in the UK)
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i’ve just started university and the money i have been saving for the last three years to pay for fees and accomodation an living costs are all with landsbanki. i feel sick at the thought of having to quit something which i have worked so hard for.
to stephen – your comment is both unhelpful and misplaced. check out Lansbanki an see what they are, check out what is happening to UK banks and check out what happened in the US recently. I imagine most people effected had either a current or fixed account. These arent high risk investments, and given what Landsbanki are we would have thought them a sound bank.
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I am all in favour of the States stepping in to help. The Guernsey states that is, as they authorised this bank to take deposits.
i would also make it a condition that only those clients who have properly declared the interest on their tax form get a refund.
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I look after my father’s financial affairs as he is now living in a home. I use his savings to pay for his fees there, which amount to tens of thousands every year. Note then that he is therefore not a burden on the taxpayer as his personal assets exceed the assistance level of £11,000 or so. Earlier in the year I saw an advert in the JEP from Landsbanki and fixed a substantial amount of his savings with them as the interest rate on offer was very attractive and my father’s only other income is the standard Jersey States Pension. I am devastated that a substantial portion of his lifetime savings have now been wiped out overnight. I have not invested any of his money in shares or other ‘risky’ investments as I need this money to pay for his care until the end of his lifetime. How can an event like this be allowed to happen in our modern society with volumes of KYC banking bureaucracy and innumerable other regulations. Residents of Iceland will receive 100% of their deposits back, residents of the Uk will receive the first £50,000 of their deposits back. Why are Channel Islands residents the only ones to suffer? In essence our money has been swallowed up and used to mitigate the losses of theresidents in those other jurisdictions. That is inequitable as we have all suffered the loss of the Parent bank equally and the Island authorities should stand up to defend their own residents from this calamity in the same way as other Governments have offered a rescue deal. I am born and bred in Jersey and have always kept my money within both Channel Islands. Ironically, had I kept it all in Jersey I wouldn’t have had any of these problems. It is not only the financial loss I am having to contend with but also the stress and worry as I don’t think it has quite sunk in yet.
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Landsbanki Guernsey was originally Cheshire Guernsey they sold to landsbanki and was very safe originally. Landsbanki Guernsey has huge deposits with it and have heard rumours it may have been used to try prop up the less secure parent company! Landsbanki (g) told me and others am sure there was no problems and was very solvent, which does beg the question where has all the money gone. Landsbanki (the parent company) have stated “they have no risk directly or indirectly from sub prime” also I have spoken to Landsbanki (g) and asked them again on the day went into administration there were no problems and they have no risk from sub prime, SO where has all the money gone.
Guernsey Govt and Icelandic Govt are jointly liable for this, if this isnt sorted Guernsey will have a run on all its banks and will never be a financial centre again also legal action will have to take place if we lose against individuals and organisations. We will not rest until we have our money, there has to be a full investigation and the wrong doers have to be brought to book and the depositers rescued.
My last word is if Guernsey goverment and its other banks dont act Guernsey’s banks and its economy will be wrecked.
Mike, UK (depositors must fight back any way they can)
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