FSCS may cut levy after Kaupthing assets ruling

Financial advisers may receive a reduced FSCS levy next year after the Court of Appeal ruled the compensation scheme is entitled to some of the £150m assets of failed Icelandic bank Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander (KSF).

No funds have as yet passed to the FSCS, but it says any financial recovery it makes will "as soon as possible" be passed onto the industry through a reduction in its annual levy.

However FSCS spokesperson Suzette Browne says it is "too early to say" when levy payers will see the benefit in their annual statements.

"Any recovery we make reduces the levy so the levy payer pays less. We don't have the money yet but it will be passed on as soon as possible."

She adds the deposit taking sub-class will be the first to benefit from a levy cut, as they shouldered most of the increase when KSF failed.

KSF's administrators, Ernst & Young (E&Y), have received directions from the Court stating the FSCS has "an interest" in the funds, following a ruling last month.

E&Y will now begin a process of "reconciliation" to return money owed to the compensation scheme, among others.

The FSCS claim relates to money held in the UK subsidiary of Kaupthing Edge savings accounts, which were London-registered and fully authorised by the FSA.

Money in these accounts was protected by the FSCS up to £35,000 for individuals and £70,000 for a joint account.

The FSCS estimates it incurred costs of £2.5bn when it transferred 157,000 Edge savers accounts to ING Direct in October 2008, when the firm took over Iceland's Kaupthing Bank, Edge's parent company, following its collapse.

So far just £266.5m has been repaid.

Edge accounts were moved to ING via a "transfer order" which ensured individuals' investments remained whole by passing any concern from the account holders to the FSCS.

In the last few days of KSF, the FSA required the bank to hold its remaining funds, totalling £150m, in a segregated account in trust for return to the appropriate parties after the bank's wind down.

Anais d'Arville, lawyer at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, the firm acting for KSF's administrators, says advisers for the firms involved will now work out the exact amounts due to independent account holders.

"Those who had accounts at KSF had the same accounts at ING. If they had £100 with KSF they had £100 with ING," says D'Arville.

"The FSCS covered UK savers' financial concern in KSF so it is entitled to the funds from the trustees in respect of any money in the trust account relating to Edge savers."

He says his firm will now look into how much interested parties are entitled to, and work out the pro-rata share of the £150m.

"We don't yet know how much the FSCS are entitled to. It involves going through to see who had an Edge account, which is a large process." says D'Arville.