Blogger Gunnar Smarason writes a disturbing piece on the prosperity of N1, gas station and convenience store empire. I just don’t know why none of the major media has picked up on it. According to Gunnar, N1′s third quarter report states that the company’s earnings have grown threefold before tax, interests and amortization, compared to [...]

I know someone who used to work for Transparency International. He doesn’t think that the institution’s tools are up to measuring corruption in Iceland. Whereas nations with millions of inhabitants are concerned about red tape, bribery and corrupt bureaucracy, Iceland’s small population is rife with nepotism. And where nepotism works best there is no need for traditional [...]

Two Icelandic MP’s have endured an “email scandal” in the past year. First Bjarni Harðarson of the Progressives tried to gather support against fellow MP Valgerdur Sverrisdottir and Margret Tryggvadottir of the Citizen’s Movement sent a “concerned” email regarding fellow MP Thrainn Bertelsson’s health. Both mistkenly used the cc. option and the word quickly spread. [...]

Rowena Mason at the Telegraph is one of few foreign journalists at a major paper that have realized the scale and implications of the Icelandic economic meltdown; But Dr Jon Danielsson, an Icelander who teaches economics at the London School of Economics, believes that while the timing of the crash was dictated by the global [...]

When Tryggvi Thor Herbertsson, Independence Party MP started his job as CEO at Askar Capital in 2006 he was granted a loan for 300 million ISK to purchase shares in the bank. The loan was put into a company, owned 100% by Tryggvi and the company will now go bankrupt when the loan is due [...]

Gunnar Andersen, director-general of the Financial Supervisory Authority, said his agency was convinced “serious” manipulation had taken place and vowed to root out the perpetrators. “We have looked at several cases where we firmly believe it [was] market manipulation and there are more coming up,” he told the Financial Times. From the Financial Times

As noted before it seems like the best job in the world today is to be on the solvency committee of an Icelandic bank. At Glitnir, Arni Tomasson is busy wondering how to get failing businesses into the “right hands”. Arni was the manager of Bunadarbankinn which lent Bjorgolfur & son the money to buy [...]

The SFO’s team has intensified its inquiries following the leak of Kaupthing’s loan book on to an internet site, Wikileaks.org, over the weekend, according to sources, A team is understood to be examining the document connected to the failed Icelandic bank, which had a large UK client base. It has also received information relating to [...]

The leaked document also reveals the extent to which Kaupthing had been lending to those with a major economic interest in the bank’s shares. For example it sets out a complex web of loans and shares posted as collateral between the bank, holding company Exista, which owned 23% of Kaupthing, and Exista’s controlling shareholders Agust [...]

Different times for business news from Iceland, “Owners rob Kaupthing”. From the German Financial Times