Millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money invested in Icelandic banks could be retrieved, it has been claimed.
Powys County Council is one of a number of British councils which had invested money in the banks, which collapsed in October last year.
Several banks in Iceland were taken over by the country’s authorities when the nation’s financial systems seized up, trapping about £800million of UK local authority funds. Powys had about £4 million invested.
Now the administrators for one of the banks that collapsed, Heritable Bank, have indicated its creditors could receive about 80 per cent of their funds back – equating to a total repayment of about £300million.
A spokesman for Powys County Council said it looked like good news but it was still too early to say.
“We are aware of the announcement but no formal details of what it means for Powys have been released to us as yet,” he said.
The council had the money invested in two Icelandic banks and is losing interest totalling £250,000 per year.
