2008-11-15 17 h 01 :: easybourse.com :: Hundreds Seek Savings Frozen In Belgian Arm Of Iceland Bank

http://www.easybourse.com/bourse-actualite/marches/hundreds-seek-savings-frozen-in-belgian-arm-of-iceland-bank-562653

Hundreds Seek Savings Frozen In Belgian Arm Of Iceland Bank

Saturday November 15th, 2008 / 17h01
BRUSSELS (AFP)--Around 500 people converged on Iceland's embassy in Brussels Saturday demanding access to their savings frozen more than a month ago in the Belgian arm of the island's embattled bank Kaupthing (KAUP.IC).
Amid cries of "thieves" and "give us our money back", the protestors taped a giant fake check for the EUR230,000,000 they claim is blocked to the door of the embassy in the Belgian capital's European quarter, holding up traffic.
Some 20,000 people had their accounts with Kaupthing Bank Belgium, a subsidiary of Kaupthing Luxembourg, frozen on Oct. 9. Luxembourg has given guarantees for deposits up to EUR20,000 only.
Many of the protesters, one carrying a white coffin on his back emblazoned with the name of Iceland's biggest bank, said they were neither shareholders nor speculators, just simple people concerned about modest savings.
"There are bills to pay," Michel Dessart, near a banner marked "Kaupthing Defreeze Our Savings", said. "It seems to me to be theft, pure and simple."
His 27-year-old daughter Yannick has her pay put into a Kaupthing account, which means her earnings have been de-facto frozen as well.
"I am really desperate. I'm depressed by this, it's terrible. I have the impression that I have been working for nothing."
Patricia Van Haltern, 45, said she had EUR28,000 in a frozen account, meaning a potential loss of at least EUR8,000, and with her house badly in need of repairs.
"Plenty of people don't realize that this could easily happen to them," she said.
Iceland's once booming financial sector has collapsed under the weight of the worldwide credit crunch, forcing the government to take control of the major banks as its currency has nosedived.
The country of just 320,000 people, has already agreed with the International Monetary Fund on a loan of $2.1 billion but needs a total of about $6 billion to overcome the crisis.
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