Icelandic internet bank freezes cash movements

Internet bank Icesave today stopped savers withdrawing their cash after its parent company was nationalised by the Icelandic government.

The Icelandic Financial Supervisory Authority issued a statement saying the country's government had taken control of Landsbanki.

It sought to reassure domestic savers that their money was fully guaranteed by the government, adding that domestic branches, call centres, cash machines and internet operations would be "open for business as usual".

But the guarantee does not extent to UK savers and people logging on to Icesave's website were greeted with a message telling them that the group was not currently processing any deposits or any withdrawal requests on its internet accounts.