Timescales. While the Authority regrets that the normal time scales for the duration of rescue measures have been exceeded, a potential need for longer periods to restructure financial institutions was envisaged by the European Commission and the Authority when adopting guidelines for the assessment of rescue and restructuring aid granted as a result of the financial crisis (2). The Authority accepts in particular that for the various reasons put forward by the Icelandic authorities, delays were inevitable at least until the assets of the bank could be valued and its ownership and capitalisation could be resolved. The Authority is also aware of domestic litigation in Iceland concerning loans linked to foreign currencies which has had the potential to have a major impact on the value of each bank’s assets, and led to considerable uncertainty for many months (3). In addition it notes the content of the CBI’s financial stability report for 2010/2 (4) which refers among other matters to the fact that non-performing loans (90 days or more in default) of the Icelandic commercial banks now total 39 % of all loans — a major political and economic issue given that many loans have already been written down. The Authority is therefore willing to accept that given the exceptional circumstances the rescue measures could be authorised and remain in place for a longer period than is normally allowed. However, whilst the Authority accepts that there are also justifiable reasons for further delay since the recapitalisation of the banks, the Authority is concerned at the lack of progress since the autumn of 2009 in concluding a detailed restructuring plan. In the absence of the restructuring plan therefore, the Authority has doubts concerning the compatibility of the measures with the EEA Agreement.
Timescales. In so far as the period of time it has taken to reach this stage is concerned the Icelandic authorities argue that they faced severe and complex circumstances — a division of three commercial banks to save the domestic part of a banking system and through that the economy, had as far as they are aware never been done before. The task required the participation of many parties both domestic and foreign and in their view some aspects of the split proved more difficult than the ‘good bank/bad bank’ method used in some other countries where banking systems have encountered serious problems. The first problem encountered was a practical one. One of the principal problems in executing the split was that it was practically impossible to obtain confirmations and summary statements from third parties at the
Timescales. In so far as the period of time it has taken to reach this stage is concerned the Icelandic authorities argue that they faced severe and complex circumstances. A division of three commercial banks to save the domestic part of a banking system, and through that the economy, had as far as they are aware never been done before. The task required the participation of many parties both domestic and foreign and in their view some aspects of the split proved more difficult than the ‘good bank/bad bank’ method used in some other countries where banking systems have encountered serious problems. The first problem encountered was a practical one. The intra-month transfer date for the assets and liabilities (14 October 2008) caused major technical and audit difficulties. Entries for almost all assets and liabilities had to be accrued manually on spreadsheets for the period between 30 September and 14 October. In addition on a given intra-month date thousands of transfers are held in intermediary accounts waiting to be recorded on the general ledger and reconciled on both sides. Auditing teams had to manually trace and reconcile each open transaction with respect to its source and destination and determine whether it belonged to the new or old bank. This work was not completed until February 2009. Within a short period of time it became evident that the creditors of the old banks were very unhappy with the asset valuation process that had been established. They considered the process to be one-sided in that their input was not taken into account as a part of the valuation process. As a result the procedure was changed in February 2009 into a formal negotiating process with the participation of domestic and foreign creditors. This process proved time consuming as a large number of international creditors and their advisors needed to participate at the negotiation table (1). Another factor in the delay of the process was the development of each of the new banks’ initial business plans — a necessary element in the negotiations with the creditors. The banks were not ready to present their business plans until they had had the opportunity to go through the valuation of transferred assets prepared by Deloitte, as the opening balance sheet would be the foundation of such business plans (2). The banks presented five-year business plans to the creditors in June 2009 following which the negotiations were able to begin. In their business plans the new banks put forward their own...