Glitnir was an international

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

. It was created by the state-directed merger of the country's three privately held banks - ''Alþýðubanki'' (Union Bank), ''Verzlunarbanki'' (Bank of Commerce) and ''Iðnaðarbanki'' (Industrial Bank) - and one failing publicly held bank - ''Útvegsbanki'' (Fisheries Bank) - to form ''Íslandsbanki'' in 1990. At the time, ''Íslandsbanki'' was the only major privately held commercial bank in Iceland. It was publicly listed on the

Iceland Stock Exchange The Nasdaq Iceland, formerly known as the Iceland Stock Exchange (XICE) ( is, Kauphöll Íslands), is a stock exchange located in Iceland. It was established in 1985 as a joint venture of several banks and brokerage firms on the initiative of the ...

, in 1993. ''Íslandsbanki'' subsequently merged with FBA Icelandic Investment Bank in 2000. On 20 February 2009, in light of the Icelandic financial crisis, the bank’s name was changed back to the original Íslandsbanki. By 15 October 2009, it was decided that 95% of the new Íslandsbanki would be taken over by the creditors of Old Glitnir, while the government of

would retain ownership of the remaining 5%.

Ownership

A third of the company was owned by

Stodir Stodir ( is, Stoðir, FL Group prior to 4 June 2008) is a majority family-owned investment company located in Reykjavík, Reykjavík, Iceland. The company was founded on July 20, 1973, under the name Flugleiðir. It was formed as a holding compa ...

. A large share of Stodir was controlled by Baugur Group which (reportedly by a number of companies) has an address in a single mailbox in the British Virgin Islands.

Overview of operations

The financial group Glitnir offered universal banking and was a leading niche player in three global segments; seafood/food, sustainable energy, and offshore supply vessels. Glitnir operated branches in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...

, and had representative offices in

Halifax, Canada Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...

and in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. Services included retail, corporate and investment banking, stock trade and capital management. Glitnir also had a fully owned bank in

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

(Glitnir Bank Luxembourg S.A) and banks and financial services companies in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

. Glitnir considered

and

its home markets. Since 2004, Glitnir had acquired BNbank and Glitnir bank (previously ''Kredittbanken''), Glitnir Securities (previously ''Norse Securities'') and Glitnir Kapitalforvaltning, the factoring company Glitnir Factoring (previously ''FactoNor''), and 50.1 percent of Union Gruppen in Norway. In addition, Glitnir's subsidiary BNbank acquired 45 per cent of the shares in

Norsk Privatøkonomi ASA Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

, an independent financial advisory company with 12 branches in key areas of Norway, in July 2006. Glitnir continued to expand its operations in the Nordic countries. In

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

, Glitnir owns the leading Swedish brokerage firm Glitnir AB (formerly ''Fischer Partners''). The acquisition of 68.1 per cent of the shares in the Finnish investment fir
FIM
was announced in early February 2007 and completed later in the spring of 2007. Glitnir announced strong profits for 2006, with a return on equity after tax of 39.4 per cent.

Government takes control

On October 7, 2008, the Government of

nationalised Glitnir by acquiring a 75% share in the bank for

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

600 million through the Icelandic Financial Supervisory Authority. The government stated that it did not intend to keep the ownership of the bank for a long term period. The Norwegian subsidiary of Glitnir Bank, Glitnir Bank ASA, was sold for NOK 300 million on October 21, 2008, or ISK 5.5 billion, but its current worth is estimated at ISK 36.5 billion. Glitnir Bank ASA was bought by 20 savings banks. The takeover was led by Finn Haugan, the managing director of

Sparebanken Midt-Norge SpareBank 1 SMN is a Norwegian savings bank based in Trøndelag. The bank has 71 branches in 51 municipalities in Central Norway and is part of the bank alliance SpareBank 1. In Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag the bank is branded SpareBank ...

which acquired a 25-percent stake in the bank. SpareBank 1 SMN is headquartered in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, an ...

and is Central Norway’s largest financial group.

Glitnir management

Lárus Welding was the chief executive officer of Glitnir when the bank was taken into government administration late September 2008. The chief executive officer, appointed by the bank's board of directors, is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the bank pursuant to the policy and resolutions of the board of directors. It is also the task of the CEO to ensure that the bank's operations are at all times consistent with the articles of association of the company and applicable legislation. Thorsteinn M. Jonsson was elected chairman of the board in April 2007. Þorsteinn Már Baldvinsson was elected chairman of the board in February 2008.

References

External links