Iceland´s top 3 banks under gov´t control

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Source: CCTV.com | 10-10-2008 08:38

Iceland has seized control of its biggest bank, Kaupthing, as it tries to shore up the country's banking system. It's also halted all trading on its stock market.

The shadow of a man is reflected on a window next to an automatic teller machine outside a branch of the Icelandic bank Kaupthing in Rejkjavik. Iceland's  government nationalised the country's biggest bank, Kaupthing, on Thursday, just days after the second  and third biggest banks were brought under state  control.(AFP/File/Olivier Morin)

The Icelandic government has now taken over three of the nation's major banks after Landsbanki and Glitnir were put under state control earlier this week.

The stock exchange suspended trading in all shares, citing unusual market conditions, and will not resume until Monday.

Elsewhere in Europe, the governments of France, Belgium, and Luxembourg have given struggling lender Dexia S.A. a yearlong bank guarantee.

The decision was announced on Thursday morning, after Dexia's shares fell for three straight days, despite a 6.4 billion euro cash injection last week.

Editor:Zhang Pengfei