MPs Blame Councils on Iceland Bank Losses

MPs Blame Councils on Iceland Bank Losses

MPs on an all-party investigation have suggested that both councils, in-house advisers and also their external advisers are to blame for investing (and losing) over £1bn of public money in failed Icelandic Banks operating in the Isle of Man.

They also pointed an accusing finger at advisers who appeared to be saying they were delivering one thing and actually doing another.

We suggest that yet again MPs are ‘dodging bullets’ here.  It is the Treasury who controls the regulator, the FSA, that authorises a Bank to trade.  Given that the FSA authorised UK arms of these same banks and had received credit warnings about the Icelandic parent banks, they never shared this information with advisers or the public or local councils.  We suggest this is a huge contributory factor.

By having banks authorised in the UK it gives credence to their sister banks in offshore territories.  In short, MPs are also to blame as it is they that control the Treasury.  We suggest they all stop throwing accusations of blame around and get on with the task in hand of negotiating returns of funds where possible with the Icelandic Government.

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