Thursday, November 5, 2009

DON'T BANK ON THE ISLE OF MAN - now riskier than ever.

The website Shelter Offshore says here : "The Isle of Man as a jurisdiction has taken a battering in recent months because of the collapse of the offshore arm of the Icelandic bank, Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander on the island. The investor protection scheme in place in the Isle of Man has been criticised for not offering enough protection to those who choose to place their money with institutions within the jurisdiction for example.What’s more, the Isle of Man financial authorities have been called to account by many as they feel that they were not tough enough in terms of the regulations they had in place to prevent financial institutions from collapse. So, are Isle of Man savings accounts worth taking a risk on..?"

The article goes on to say: "So, is the Isle of Man a poor jurisdiction that has sold out those who have lost out from a single bank’s collapse? Or is it just the unlucky jurisdiction that had to deal with a collapsed bank? The truth is certainly in there somewhere – but it depends on who you speak to. We fully, wholeheartedly support the KSFIOM Depositors’ Action Group – who wouldn’t. These are people whose financial losses have devastated their lives in many instances – one cannot ignore these people. Yet at the same time, we support the Isle of Man as a jurisdiction because they have done and are continuing to do what they can to protect those who place money within financial institutions on the island."

What a dichotomy! It is explained by Shelter Offshore having a vested financial interest in promoting investment & deposits on the Isle of Man & other offshore financial centres. Therefore it has a clear bias towards defending the offshore centres themselves, whilst acknowledging that there are risks involved in putting one's trust in them. So it conveniently passes the buck back to the depositor (or investor) by concluding: "When it comes to your money however, you have to make the judgement call for yourself. You need to look at any recommendations you’re given and see whether you agree and feel that yes, the jurisdiction favoured and the financial institution chosen for the enhancement of your wealth is appropriate for not only your risk profile but for your future financial security."

Depositors in Kaupthing have been criticised as fools by Manx people for not fully assessing the risks they were taking in depositing on the Isle of Man. Some have gone so far as to say that they deserved to lose their life savings for not being more circumspect.

The message dispossessed depositors are saying loud & clear to expats and others throughout the world is 'DON'T BANK ON THE ISLE OF MAN as you are at serious risk of losing your wealth.' There's over 30 videos on www.youtube.com making that message clear to all. view here

3 comments:

  1. Shelter Offshore says it is empathetic towards depositors but wants to believe that this third bank to fail on the IOM will be the last one to do so. That is living in cloud cuckoo land.

    The island has no bank of last resort & no arrangement between banks to support each other in the event of one of them getting into difficulties.

    The banks benefit enormously by operating offshore so it is behoven to them to make it not only attractive to depositors but also safe & reliable for expats to put their trust in them.
    Until they do people can't bank on the IoM to protect their money.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Listen to Shelter Offshore & deposit on the Isle of Man? Only a fool would step in where Angel now fears to tread.

    Angel

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tony Brown & Allen Bell need to grab the Kaupthing bull by the horns before it mauls them to death. Meeting the just demands of depositors would be a small price to pay to heal the festering wound that KSF has caused. Most if not all of the cost would be paid for from the recovered assets of the bank.

    ReplyDelete