Latest Channel 4 News:
Government urged to stem job losses
G8 summit urged to combat hunger
More tenants struggling to pay rent
Quarter of banks pay zero interest
Recession hits wedding costs

Iceland stock exchange reopens

Updated on 14 October 2008

By John Sparks

The stock exchange in Iceland loses 76 per cent of its value after a suspension of trading.

The Bank of England lent £100m to its Icelandic counterpart this week, as efforts continue to save British depositors' money.

At present, anyone who has money in a UK bank or building society, or with a credit union, will be paid up to £50,000 if the organisation goes bust. That figure is doubled to £100,000 for joint accounts.

But if you have money in an offshore account in the Channel Islands, none of your money is guaranteed by the financial services compensation scheme if the institution fails.



The Isle of Man has its own compensation scheme which, like the rest of the UK, is guaranteed up to £50,000.

Many depositors invested their money in the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man with Icelandic banks for the attractive rates of interest and tax breaks.

It is not clear how much money they will get back as the banks have gone into administration.

Send this article by email

More on this story

Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of external websites.


Watch the Latest Channel 4 News

Watch Channel 4 News when you want

Latest Business & Money news

More News blogs

View RSS feed

Britain going bust?

Money (credit:Getty Images)

Faisal Islam gets the inside story on the national debt.

Faisal Islam on Twitter

faisalislam

Virgin interested in taking on East Coast Mainline. They lost out to National Express's ludicrous bid...

This week

Follow us

How to tweet

How and why to follow the Channel 4 News family on Twitter.

Week in pictures

credit: Reuters

A selection of the best pictures from around the world.




Channel 4 © 2009. Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of external websites.