Was the UK government right to use anti terrorist legislation to freeze Icelands banks assets?
Cast your mind back to early October 2008. The Icelandic government took the then unprecedented step of nationalising the Glitnir bank. This was the first sign that the Icelandic economy, which in recent years had seen a banking and investment boom, was in serious trouble. With Bank of England base rate in the United Kingdom down to 4.5% and likely to fall further, many investors had switched their savings to the Icelandic banks, who were offering savings rates as high as 15% with the effect that by the time it became known that Glitnir was in trouble, the Icelandic banking system held the savings accounts of approximately 300,000 British investors, amounting to over £900 million.
