ABSTRACT
Iceland was the first European country that was hit by the global financial crisis. Within a few weeks in October 2008, all three main commercial Icelandic banks faced bankruptcy. An emergency law 3 was adopted that gave the Financial Supervision Authority the powers to initiate the winding-up and resolution of the old banks and the creation of new banks, to which all resident deposits in Iceland were transferred. With the procedure still ongoing, two banks (Arion, Íslandsbanki) were privatized again, while the other (Landsbanki) is still in public hands – its resolution complicated by the ‘Icesave-case’ concerning guarantees towards depositors from the UK and the Netherlands.
