Icesave: Icelandic govt wins compensation ruling

A European court has cleared the Icelandic government of failing to guarantee minimum levels of compensation for UK and Dutch savers in the collapsed Icesave bank.

Icesave, run by Icelandic Landsbanki, collapsed in 2008 along with Iceland's banking system. UK and Dutch savers were bailed out completely by their governments but the ruling may halt the UK's attempt to get all of its money back from the Icelandic government, the BBC reports. The Icelandic government said it took "considerable satisfaction" from the ruling from the European Free Trade Agreement (EFTA) Court. "Iceland has from the start maintained that there is legal uncertainty as to whether a state is responsible for ensuring payments of minimum guarantees to depositors using it...