Breaking finance and business news, tax information, jobs and more for finance directors and senior finance professionals.

The Icesave rescue begins

Written by Paul Williams
Thursday, 06 November 2008
FSCS contacts over 200,000 UK Icesave customers, as Treasury pledges close on a billion pounds. The Chancellor Alistair Darling today announced that the Treasury will fork out £800 million to fund the compensation of the more than 200,000 UK savers with Icesave. Related Articles Morning business news: Jan 8th Lessons learnt on Iceland banks IOM depositors failing to make progress on compensation Icesave customers start to get money back Morning business news The Bank of England will loan the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) £800 million - financed by the Treasury - to meet the Chancellor’s promise that no UK depositor in Icesave will lose any money. Two days ago the FSCS sent out their first emails to UK customers of Icesave were sent out with more information about how to claim back their savings. The email was the first stage of a process that will lead to compensation for thousands of Icesave customers. It will be followed up by FSCS sending second emails to customers, in phases, with a view to starting compensation payments in the second week of November as planned. The second email will provide instructions on how depositors can log on to their existing Icesave accounts in the normal way to complete a short electronic process allowing them to receive their compensation. Once UK depositors complete the process, their money will transfer to their nominated account in a BACS transfer within five working days. The process of sending out the second email is being phased to manage the flow of payments through the system and for security reasons. FSCS Chief Executive Loretta Minghella said: “We are pleased to say the first email is now going to UK Icesave customers with more information about how they can claim back their money. This marks the first stage of an accelerated payout process that will benefit the vast majority of UK Icesave customers. We have been working hard to get the system in place. It is another step towards offering compensation to the vast majority of UK Icesave customers by the end of November.”