Banks: Iceland

Mrs. Spelman
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles) of 11 November 2008, Official Report, column 1083W, on bank services, for what reasons people with funds held in Icelandic banks were not alerted to the circumstances which prompted the Financial Services Authority to intensify its supervision of retail deposit-taking by Icelandic banks at the beginning of 2008.

Ian Pearson
The authorities acted responsibly throughout and, for very good reasons, have a policy of not commenting publicly on individual institutions. In line with usual practice, the authorities did not make people aware of these circumstances. To have done so in the case of the Icelandic banks could have caused precisely the consequences that the authorities were seeking to avoid.