Professor Hannes H. Gissurarson, a member of the RNH Academic Council, gives a paper on the Icelandic bank collapse and lessons which European nations may draw from it, at the “Freedom Summit” of the European Young Conservatives at Churchill College, Cambridge, 22 September 2013. In his paper, Gissurarson will discuss the characteristics of the Icelandic bank collapse and its specific causes, in addition to the main causes of the international financial crisis. These specific causes include two systemic risks in the Icelandic banking sector; one because of cross-ownership and the inflated value of collateral; and another one because of the asymmetry of the field of operations and area of institutional support.
Professor Gissurarson will present his theories and investigations on why the American Federal Reserve System did not support the Icelandic Central Bank, at the same time as it made generous currency swap agreements with almost all other Western central banks outside the eurozone, and why the British Labour government closed the two Icelandic banks in England, on the very same day as it bailed out all other banks in England, and why the Labour government also used an anti-terrorism law against Icelandic companies and institutions, with the consequence that a total collapse of the financial sector became inevitable. This event is a part of the joint RNH-AECR project on “Europe, Iceland and the Future of Capitalism”. Other speakers at the conference include Daniel Hannan MEP, Secretary-General of AECR, and Eric Pickles MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.
