Category Archives: iceland

Icelandic CDS Datapoints of the Day

Posted on November 7, 2008 by Felix

The CDS auctions for Iceland’s failed banks are all over now, and the results are up at creditfixings.com. Bank Inside Market Midpoint Open interest Final price Landsbanki senior 3.375 €454 million to sell 1.25 Landsbanki subordinated 1.375 €63 million to … Continue reading →

Posted in derivatives, iceland | Comments Off on Icelandic CDS Datapoints of the Day

Landsbanki Debt Settles at 1 Cent on the Dollar

Posted on November 4, 2008 by Felix

What happens to unsecured bondholders when a financial institution goes bust? A good place to start is to look at the settlement price in CDS auctions. Fannie and Freddie settled in the high 90s: yes, there was a credit event, … Continue reading →

Posted in banking, iceland | Comments Off on Landsbanki Debt Settles at 1 Cent on the Dollar

Adventures in Icelandic Monetary Policy

Posted on October 28, 2008 by Felix

What does it mean that Iceland has just raised interest rates by 600bp, after cutting them by 350bp a couple of weeks ago? I’m not talking about monetary policy here, I’m talking about what it means in practice. Central bank … Continue reading →

Posted in fiscal and monetary policy, iceland | Comments Off on Adventures in Icelandic Monetary Policy

Germans Suffer from Exposure in Iceland

Posted on October 24, 2008 by Felix

Iceland has three banks. Between them they have $61 billion in liabilities, or about 12 times Iceland’s GDP — which clearly makes it impossible for the Icelandic government to bail them out. But who lent Iceland’s banks so much money? … Continue reading →

Posted in banking, iceland | Comments Off on Germans Suffer from Exposure in Iceland

Iceland’s Best-Laid Plan Falls Apart

Posted on October 8, 2008 by Felix

Here’s how fluid things are: last week, Iceland nationalized Glitnir, the country’s third-largest bank. Today, it unnationalized Glitnir, putting it into receivership instead: clearly the bank’s liabilities were too large for the Icelandic government to take on. Yesterday, Iceland pegged … Continue reading →

Posted in iceland, sovereign debt | Comments Off on Iceland’s Best-Laid Plan Falls Apart

The Iceland-Dow Connection

Posted on October 7, 2008 by Felix

Josh has been watching the Icelandic krona: This morning, the ISK reached a nadir of 350 ISK to the EUR, and I was placing phone calls to travel agencies trying to book the cheapest holiday of my life. Then, suddenly … Continue reading →

Posted in iceland, stocks | Comments Off on The Iceland-Dow Connection