The main conclusion of a report compiled at the request of the Minister of Finance, Mr Bos, on the supervision exercised by the DNB in respect of Icesave, is that the core problem surrounding Icesave lay in the attitude taken by Landsbanki and the Iceland supervisor, FME, within the European system of home state control and, by implication, in the deficiencies of that system.
The main recommendation of the report is that the European system be thoroughly revised. In any event, the situation where a country bears the risk of a possible bankruptcy of a financial institution – via the deposit guarantee scheme - whereas it has next to no control over the management of that risk should be avoided. The report argues that supervisors in the host member states should receive increased supervisory powers, or supervision at a European level or cooperation and conflict resolution between supervisors should be improved.
The report concludes that the DNB was not permitted to warn against the situation at Landsbanki/Icesave, although it does note that it finds the grounds on which the DNB based its assessment insufficiently clear.
