Iceland �50m meeting 'positive'

About 100 councils are thought to have invested in banks in Iceland

A visit to Iceland by finance chiefs from Kent County Council (KCC) to secure �50m invested in collapsed banks has been described as "positive".

Officials from the authority and from the London Borough of Barnet met with creditors last week.

KCC has about �50m tied up in Landsbanki, its UK subsidiary Heritable and Glitnir Bank.

The council has vowed to fight to retrieve all of the money it invested in Icelandic banks.

Finance cabinet member Nick Chard said: "Kent County Council and the London Borough of Barnet represented all local authorities with deposits with Glitnir and Landsbanki at an initial creditors' meeting in Iceland last week.

"The meeting was the first step in a very complex process, but initial indications are positive.

"We are determined to follow the process through and fight to get every penny back.

"We cannot comment on specific details of the meeting at this stage for legal reasons, but we will continue to update Kent residents as we progress."

It was revealed last month that Kent has the biggest single UK council investment in Iceland's banks.

Officials hope that the �18m locked in the UK-based Heritable will be safeguarded.

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