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Monday, April 4, 2016

It's official - Icelandic bankers have been jailed

If you've been following this blog over the last few years, you know that Iceland took the dramatic step of prosecuting top officers at the country's big 3 banks, all of which were allowed to go bankrupt in the wake of the 2008 financial collapse. Unlike Ireland, it did not turn bank debt into government debt, which increased Ireland's debt by close to 100% of gross national product (GNP) overnight. Though hit hard by the 50% drop of the krona, Iceland has managed a remarkable, though still incomplete, recovery marked by its renewed ability to borrow in foreign currency with less than a 1% risk premium and by achieving unemployment rates that Eurozone countries can only envy.

What you wouldn't know, if you just been looking at the headlines (Google "Iceland jails bankers" and you'll see what I mean), is that Iceland had not actually been jailing bankers. Here's a typical one from the BBC, "Iceland jails former Kaupthing bank bosses" (12 December 2013). In fact, nobody went to jail at that time: They were convicted, but all four Kaupthing officials appealed their sentences. If you search similarly titled stories, you will see that headline "jailings" were either convictions, or an affirmation of these lower court decisions by the Icelandic Supreme Court, neither of which actually led to immediate jailings. Indeed, one of the "Kaupthing Four," as they are now called, was living in Luxembourg (he had headed Kaupthing's Luxembourg branch), and I wondered to myself if could even be compelled to return to Iceland to serve his sentence.

Now I am happy to report that the Kaupthing Four are finally in jail in a minimum-security prison with only one road connecting it to the outside world, including the former CEO of Kaupthing's Luxembourg unit who was outside Iceland when his conviction was upheld. There have been an additional 22 convictions now at various stages in the appeals processes, and special prosecutor for the banking crimes, Olafur Hauksson, indicted five more bank officials for fraud and manipulating stock prices just last month.

As Kaupthing was Iceland's largest bank before the crash, jailing its top officials sends a reassuring sign that the rest of those convicted will eventually follow suit. Iceland thereby establishes a precedent we should continue to urge in the United States, United Kingdom, and elsewhere that bankers are not too big to jail.

A note to readers: Bloomberg reporter Edward Robinson had not replied to a request for some clarifications at the time this story was published. If any of you know when the Kaupthing Four reported to prison, whether there are other bankers already in jail, or other useful news, please send along the information and I'll be happy to credit you. Thanks!

Cross-posted at Angry Bear.