Landsbanki update 22/12 "No festive cheer"

What alternatives to finance ?


Im not sure how guernsey would fill the void but there are many places in the world especially islands which do not have a finance industry,i doubt you have the same levels of income but that also is refelcted in the cost of living and housing etc

I believe alternatives should have been looked at over a period of time if ever there were sudden changes in law by Obama for example the transisition would be very painful and i do believe finance one day will pull the plug,working on the same basis as a normal investor dont put all your eggs in one basket sounds reasonable advice.

I doubt Thailands income is 50% from sex,rice is one the main sources of income and exporting a wide range of goods,if you move away from the tourist spots of phuket and pattaya and parts of bangkok you will not find any sex tourism, i live in the north east which is mainly agricultural with thai people working very hard on the land.

Like i said i believe ml goes on worldwide and a first step to closing the loopholes would be bank accounts only in your country of residence,i have a freind who is a broker in bangkok yet his clients account is held in hsbc Guernsey,why would that be ? I just think this is a great opportunity for goverments around the world to close the loopholes on financial crime.

And if they do off shore financial centres would be the first place to target.

Guernsey has survived before without finance and it can again.


Thailand gdp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Thailand

About Thailand

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2814.htm


Quite a wide range of services

It may not have been clear but the 50% related to the illegal part of the sex industry, there will be some parts that are legal so the funds would not be laundered.

You will find that probably 98% of the Trusts are for people that live offshore and for HSBC trust co' that would be Asia. Although an Asian may have a trust in Gsy the funds would be kept in an account in his home country. Having a Guernsey account gives certain legal tax benefits and for tax evasion the Gsy bank has little defence because it is the clients responsibility to declare his interest/gains for tax deduction unless it is deducted at source by the bank which occurs in some countries.

guernsey was surviving very well on tourism,agriculture,horticulture and fishing until the states allowed all these industries to be run into the ground in favour of the great god finance.

Thistle wrote:guernsey was surviving very well on tourism,agriculture,horticulture and fishing until the states allowed all these industries to be run into the ground in favour of the great god finance.

I agree

plimmerton811 wrote:It may not have been clear but the 50% related to the illegal part of the sex industry, there will be some parts that are legal so the funds would not be laundered.

You will find that probably 98% of the Trusts are for people that live offshore and for HSBC trust co' that would be Asia. Although an Asian may have a trust in Gsy the funds would be kept in an account in his home country. Having a Guernsey account gives certain legal tax benefits and for tax evasion the Gsy bank has little defence because it is the clients responsibility to declare his interest/gains for tax deduction unless it is deducted at source by the bank which occurs in some countries.

In the instance i gave the broker holds the clients account funds in hsbc guernsey and from there sends them to various off shore investments,i know why he does it and its for none of the reasons you stated.

And he dont use hsbc trust,the account is purely a vehicle which must be very noticeable to any reasonably educated bank employee.But its still allowed to continue.

Iceland has finally agreed to refund the billions in British savings lost in the collapse of Landsbanki.

Iceland says it has struck a preliminary deal to repay the deposits that were frozen when Landsbanki fell victim to the chaos in the financial markets. About 300,000 British savers – not to mention dozens of local authorities, public bodies and charities – lost their deposits in the Icesave meltdown, leading to a full-blown diplomatic spat between the UK and Iceland as Alistair Darling and co clamoured for our money back. With the Icelandic economy on its knees, there didn’t seem much chance of a happy ending – but some serious diplomatic pressure seems to have done the trick.

This clearly wasn’t an entirely benevolent gesture on Iceland’s part. The move appears to have been a condition of a $2bn IMF loan that Iceland desperately needs to prop up its ailing economy – no doubt thanks to Britain and the Netherlands throwing their weight around behind-the-scenes. ‘It has become increasingly clear that we were not just up against two countries but all twenty-seven in the European Union,’ said Iceland PM Geir Haarde yesterday, in the slightly ungracious manner of a man who’s had his arm twisted further and further behind his back.
However, the good news for British savers is that Iceland has now agreed to honour its commitments and ‘cover deposits of insured depositors in the Icesave accounts in accordance with European Economic Area law’ - something it had previously insisted that it wouldn’t do (hence the furious response from the British government, which promptly started seizing Icelandic assets in the UK). So it looks likely that most of the UK savers affected – including the MT reader who had £17,000 trapped in there – now have a pretty good chance of seeing their money again before too long.
In many ways, it’s also good news for Iceland. It may have been forced into this deal, but at least it should now be able to get its hands on that much-needed $2bn IMF loan, which has been effectively blocked until the situation was resolved. And better still, once this money arrives, it should pave the way for it to raise a further $4bn from other countries in the Nordic region. All in all, that $6bn may be enough to help it put its moribund economy back on an even keel.
And finally, it’s also good news for the UK government. Alistair Darling promised in the aftermath of the Icesave collapse that he would cover any losses to British taxpayers (for which read: voters). At least that’s one bill the Treasury won’t have to foot in the coming months... (from management today)

Good News for the Guernsey Goverment ..

did lyndon use his little black book of numbers to phone the icelandic prime minister.i doubt it very much.it has taken a lt bigger man than he is to sort this deal out.good luck to all the savers just be careful where you invest your pennys next time .

I dont see why its good news for Guernsey, the states still have not done much and the payments from iceland are limited to 18k im sure there are people with more than 18k who will be looking to the states of guernsey to come up with some form of gesture.

Considerable damage has already been done to the integrity of Guernsey as a suitable place for a individuals deposits

Iceland have taken a loan from the imf and will have to repay this back.Looks like they were forced to do this rather than it being a gesture of goodwill.

Are we sure their offer includes the channel islands ?

http://www.londonstockexchange.com/en-gb/pricesnews/investnews/article.htm?WBCMODE=3DPresentati?ArticleID=18879835

have just read the link you have put up cdj.it looks as you say as if guernsey customers still aren't getting their money back.lets hope things are made clearer over the next day or two.

Thistle wrote:guernsey was surviving very well on tourism,agriculture,horticulture and fishing until the states allowed all these industries to be run into the ground in favour of the great god finance.

Was it?

Tourism; Beds have been cut to a minimum and the cheap B&B was edged out of the market making Guernsey a very expensive place to holiday in. From the UK you can fly to cheaper than coming to Gsy and once there the accomodation/food is again cheaper. Fly to Spain and have almost guarateed good weather so why come to Gsy. Tourism wise time has moved on and passed us by.

Fishing; Fish are harder to come by as the sea is depleted and as an Island we could not survive on our small fleet.

Agriculture/Horticulture; I believe it was subsidies in Europe that killed off our industry not the States. A friend owns a tomato vinery in Holland, her brother rides round the one, yes one greenhouse on his bicycle, the tom's are handpicked and then not touched by human hand until the box they are in is lifted onto a pallet, how can we compete against that. They pay for pickers and some packers little labour.

I agree the states have converted hotels, given little no subsidies to industry. Butv they cannot be blamed for cheaper tourism elsewhere, dwindling fishstocks, and european subsidies.

LANDSBANKI customers have said that the proposed depositor compensation scheme should have been put in place years ago.
Landsbanki Guernsey Depositors’ Action Group committee member Dave Grundy said he felt angry and bewildered to know that the recently announced scheme, that could be ready for approval next week, would not help him or his associates.
‘Requests for a scheme have been made for years and years but it has taken the Landsbanki crisis to wake them up and get them to shut the stable door,’ he said.
‘Whatever they do bring in with this scheme I am sure will include steps to ensure that the victims of the Landsbanki Guernsey collapse do not benefit.’
The scheme, which will compensate savers if a bank collapses in future, will not be applied retrospectively. (from thisisguernsey)

TAXPAYERS’ money might be used to help out-of-pocket Landsbanki investors after all, it was claimed yesterday.
Landsbanki Guernsey Depositors’ Action Group chairman Neil Dickens said Chief Minister Lyndon Trott had suggested the States might help to make up any shortfall if the Icelandic government did not deliver.
‘I asked him whether the States would perhaps help make up the difference if the Icelanders do not come through on their parental guarantee and he responded, “never say never”,’ said Mr Dickens.
He said the group was encouraged to know, at last, that something had been going on behind the scenes, although members would have been a lot better off had they known sooner.
At a long-awaited meeting at Frossard House, Landsbanki depositors met Deputy Trott, Treasury and Resources minister Charles Parkinson and States chief executive Mike Brown. (from thisisguernsey)

JERSEY-based investors with money in Landsbanki Guernsey say that the States of Guernsey are not doing enough to help recoup their savings from the failed bank.
Frustrated Islanders met at the Town Hall last week and called for an assurance from Guernsey’s government that something will be done to try to recover all of their funds, which were frozen when the Icelandic-owned bank went into administration on 6 October.
Savings in Guernsey are not protected by either the UK or Icelandic government guarantees. Landsbanki administrators have reimbursed customers on the basis of 30 pence for every pound deposited. However, this has left the 2,033 depositors of Landsbanki Guernsey facing a 70 per cent loss on their savings with millions of pounds estimated to have been deposited by Jersey residents.
‘A number of the depositors voiced anger and frustration over the lack of apparent effort being made by the States of Guernsey,’ a spokesperson from the Jersey committee of the Landsbanki Guernsey Depositors Action Group said after last week’s meeting (from thisisjersey)

GD wrote:TAXPAYERS’ money might be used to help out-of-pocket Landsbanki investors after all, it was claimed yesterday.
Landsbanki Guernsey Depositors’ Action Group chairman Neil Dickens said Chief Minister Lyndon Trott had suggested the States might help to make up any shortfall if the Icelandic government did not deliver.
‘I asked him whether the States would perhaps help make up the difference if the Icelanders do not come through on their parental guarantee and he responded, “never say never”,’ said Mr Dickens.
He said the group was encouraged to know, at last, that something had been going on behind the scenes, although members would have been a lot better off had they known sooner.
At a long-awaited meeting at Frossard House, Landsbanki depositors met Deputy Trott, Treasury and Resources minister Charles Parkinson and States chief executive Mike Brown. (from thisisguernsey)

Any developments on this ? "never say never"

LANDSBANKI depositors are facing a bleak Christmas nearly three months after the bank’s collapse.
The 2,033 people who invested in the Icelandic institution have yet to see a full return on their savings.
One customer, an 83-year-old widow known as Eleanor, had invested her life savings in Landsbanki Guernsey. She is relying on help from her children and handouts to survive.
The Landsbanki Guernsey Depositors Action Group has been campaigning in the island and Westminster to secure the full return of depositor’s savings.
So far, only 30p in the pound has been received. It is appealing to the UK Government to fulfil its constitutional obligation to the Crown Dependencies to support the Guernsey savers in international negotiations. (from thisguernsey)