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East Renfrewshire Council has today confirmed that of its overall investments of £15m, £1m is invested in Heritable Bank, the London-based subsidiary of Landsbanki. Director of finance Norie Williamson said: "We made the decision some months ago to invest only in UK or Irish-based banks withdrawing, where possible, any investment in Icelandic associated banks. But a previous investment in Heritable as a UK-domiciled, and, at that time, a bank with a sound credit rating, could not be renegotiated given the terms of the deposit. That £1m investment is due to mature in early December. We are in touch with the administrators and hope in the longer term, once the bank's and the government's positions clarify, that we will, as with other councils, be able to recover this investment. Councils, businesses and savers are facing a fast-moving and unique set of financial events in which formerly sound investments are being affected by external and unpredictable sets of circumstances. "East Renfrewshire Council has an excellent reputation of prudent financial management and for a productive investment strategy. All other investments held by the council are in either UK or Irish banks. We are doing all we can to monitor the position and to identify the likely effects of the Heritable Bank situation if we are unable, in the longer term, to recover the money despite all our best efforts." www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk |
