DEPOSITS in Guernsey banks of up to £50,000 will be covered from today by a new compensation scheme that was sealed yesterday.
However, it will not be retrospective and will not benefit worried investors with frozen accounts in Landsbanki, the Icelandic-owned Guernsey bank in administration.
The scheme, which has been agreed between Guernsey’s States and any bank based in the island, takes immediate effect and will compensate retail customers up to £50,000 each if a locally based bank fails. The total claim on the scheme is capped at £100 million and the first £20 million will be covered by an insurance fund into which the banks will pay an annual levy.
But the fact that Guernsey has got there first is of little concern to Jersey’s Chief Minister Frank Walker. He was in London today for a meeting with UK Treasury officials about the setting up of a review of the finance industries of the Crown Dependencies.
