Icesave Dispute - Kaupthing Edge

Kaupthing Edge

Kaupthing Edge was an online savings brand owned and operated by Kaupthing Bank and its subsidiaries from 2007 to 2008. It offered savings accounts only to personal savers and operated in eleven countries. One major difference between Kaupthing Edge and Icesave was that Kaupthing Edge accounts were usually held with Kaupthing's subsidiaries outside Iceland, rather than with branches of the parent bank.

In four cases, however, Kaupthing Edge accounts were held in branches:

• Finland, where the brand operated from October 2007.
• Norway, where the brand operated from January 2008.
• Germany, where the brand operated from March 2008, attracting about 30,000 depositors.
• Austria, where the brand operated from 4 September 2008, attracting 200–300 customers with about €3 million in deposits.

In Finland and Norway, the local financial supervisors took over Kaupthing's operations and guaranteed deposits. In Austria, a private agreement was reached between the Austrian authorities and Kaupthing's receivers, with accounts being transferred to other banks. In Germany, however, there were serious problems with deposit insurance – identical to those suffered by Icesave depositors in the UK and the Netherlands. In this case, however, the German authorities swiftly seized all the assets and deposits in Germany before the Icelandic managers were able to move them, thus preventing them from being transferred to Iceland or other offshore accounts. German depositors started to get their capital back on 22 June 2009, but lost any interest accrued.