My 3rd EDM reminder letter

Dear Mr Smith,

You may remember that I am a former constituent seriously affected by the collapse of the Kaupthing Banks in London, the Isle of Man and Iceland. I have wrtten to you on 17th December 2009 and the 5th of January, asking you to help me by signing Early Day Motion 474 (see http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=40046&SESSION=903) tabled by Bob Russell MP.

I note that Early Day Motions are matters of conscience and would therefore ask you lobby your colleagues to sign as well. I also note that 38 of your colleagues have already signed.

As you may know, the British arm of Kaupthing is now being formally investigated by the Serious Fraud Office and Tony Shearer, a former chief executive of Singer & Friedlander before it was taken over by Kaupthing in 2005, has written to FSA chairman Lord Turner to ask for a public inquiry. Mr Shearer is reported as saying in a recent edition of the Sunday Times: "For the sake of everybody who lost money, we need to know exactly what happened between the takeover and its collapse. The FSA is partly culpable because this all happened on its watch." (See http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/6924213/...)

I would like to draw your attention to several paragraphs from the cited article.

'According to very senior sources at the regulator, the FSA had worries about the liquidity of Kaupthing's British subsidiary before Christmas 2007.

It did nothing to stop the establishment of the Edge accounts in the April, eight months before its eventual collapse, because the regulator thought it would help the bank's cash position.
[my emphasis]
It is understood that the British arm of Kaupthing came very close to surviving the crash that sank the Icelandic economy.

The FSA, which was in charge of supervising the bank's UK subsidiary Kaupthing, Singer & Friedlander, has refused to reveal whether it is investigating the collapsed institution.

It says it was "impotent" to prevent Kaupthing's takeover of the blue-blooded City investment bank Singer & Friedlander in 2005, despite warnings about the suitability of the new owners.'

The paragraphs above beg the question what as the FSA for? As it clearly didn't think that protecting British savers and tax payers from loss was part of its remit.

The loss of my deposit (which was initially banked with the Derbyshire building society IOM and was taken over by Kaupthing) was a result of this. To say that the FSA was asleep at the wheel overstates the case. It is evident that they weren't even at the wheel. I am therefore asking again for your support by signing EDM 474.

My fellow depositors and I believe this EDM could be a significant step forward in recovering 100% of the monies we are owed, providing it receives sufficient support in the House. From the response my fellow depositors have had we are confident of much cross-party support and I am counting on you to sign it in support of me.

I have attached a copy of my letter of the 17th in case it has gone astray.

Yours sincerely,

xxx