Hertfordshire County Council gets back 92 per cent of funds invested in collapsed Icelandic banks

A financial report was presented to the latest meeting of the council’s audit committee
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Hertfordshire County Council has received 92 per cent of the funds it had invested in Icelandic banks.

Investors had been attracted to the high interest rates offered by a small number of Icelandic banks.

But in 2008 the banks collapsed – raising fears that the investments may be lost.

Hertfordshire County CouncilHertfordshire County Council
Hertfordshire County Council

At that point the county council had £28m invested in four Icelandic banks – Glitnir, Landsbanki, Heritable Bank and KDF.

But a financial report – presented to the latest meeting of the council’s audit committee – reveals that £26.79m has now been paid back.

Claims made against three of those banks are now closed – with the council having received £6.95m of their £7m investment from Heritable Bank; £9.23m of £10m from Landsbanki; and £7.05m from £7m from Glitnir (which reflects interest rates).

The council has also received back £3.56m from a £4m investment in KSF. This claim remains open – but the amount returned is expected to rise by around £100,000.

Commenting on the issue following the meeting, the county council’s assistant director of finance Steven Pilsworth said: “Since 2008, the council has worked alongside the Local Government Association (LGA) and over 120 other councils across the country to recover amounts invested with Icelandic banks.

“To date, the council has recovered £26.8m of the £28m it had originally invested, a recovery of nearly 96 per cent. Work will continue to see if any further sums can be recovered.”