Intrafish Person Of The Year 2008 In Euro 600 Million Messff

By Atuna

In an article published by the news agency IceNews, Larus Welding, the CEO of Glitnir Bank, talks about the future of Iceland’s economy after the collapse of the country’s bank system.

Glitnir Bank has been providing financial advice for the seafood industry and financing of offshore service vessels for over a century. Last week, the government of Iceland announced that it will acquire a 75% stake in the Bank at the price of 600 million euros.


Glitner Bank's CEO: Larus Welding

Larus Welding was asked to keep his position as CEO, which he accepted.

“The challenge for the banking sector is something we must solve in cooperation across country borders. In relation to Iceland, what we see, as part of the international challenge within finance, is an uncertainty in the financial market. We all know that the long term prospects of the Icelandic economy are strong, building on seafood, hydro and geothermal energy, as well as aluminum exports”, he said.

Quoted as “the seafood industry’s bank” by Intrafish last April, Glitnir has lent more than $3 billion (€1.9 billion) to the seafood industry in recent years, and expectations were that the amount would continue to increase in accordance with the pace of consolidation throughout the seafood sector.

Also in April, Larus Welding received the “Person of the Year 2008” award by Intrafish. One of the seafood magazine’s reasons for appointing Mr. Welding was that “Glitnir has a leading team of progressive investment bankers committed to funding the consolidation of the seafood industry and growth and development of individual seafood firms”.

Five months later the Glitnir Bank had to give in its ownership to the Icelandic government.

However, Mr. Welding doesn’t seem to be shaken: “The Icelandic banking system is diversified, where all the Icelandic commercial banks have furthermore hedged the effect of ISK (Icelandic Krona) currency movements on the capital ratios which are strong compared to those of our peers,” he continued. “The government’s ownership in Glitnir will further strengthen the capital base of Glitnir and remove all doubt that the bank can cope with the current environment.”