Legal Standing

Landsbanki Íslands hf. is currently in winding-up pursuant to the rules of section B of chapter XII of the Act on Financial Undertakings. The winding-up is based on the ruling of the District of Reykjavík of 22 November 2010.

Pursuant to item 2 of temporary provision V of the Act on Financial Undertakings everything which was done during the bank’s moratorium from the adoption of Act no. 44/2009, i.e. from 22 November 2009, stands undisturbed. To the extent that the priority of claims and other legal effects are generally decided by the day on which a ruling on winding-up is passed, it shall be based on the date of adoption of the aforementioned Act. This entails unavoidable deviations from the general rules of the law but their purpose is to ensure a continuous process for the benefit of the estate and thereby the creditors as a whole.

The Winding-up Board is appointed by the District Court of Reykjavík and is subject to the authority of the courts. Its work is subject in all main aspects to the rules which apply to liquidators under the provisions of the Act on Bankruptcy etc. no. 21/1991. The members of a Winding-up Board are official administrators in their work. They are obligated to observe the law in all regards and guard the interests of the estate in all ways.

It is prudent to emphasise that the rules on protection from collection- and enforcement actions of specific creditors remain unchanged and there are no changes to the claims procedure and any sort of processing of the claims against the bank which were lodged following the call in of the Winding-up Board.

The winding-up of Landsbanki Íslands hf. is in accordance to the European Directive on the winding-up of financial undertakings (2001/24/EC) and is as such automatically recognised within the EEA. On further treatment reference can be made to Art. 9-18 of the Directive.