Best bank: Arion Bank
Things could not have gone much worse in 2023 for Islandsbanki, the bank that won this award in the past two years. A long-awaited regulatory report into the sale of part of the government’s holding in 2022 found that Islandsbanki itself had committed various violations during the process. Islandsbanki was fined Isk1.2 billion ($8.6 million), a record for Iceland.
The affair was particularly sad for Islandsbanki chief executive Birna Einarsdóttir, who eventually bowed to political pressure to assume ultimate responsibility for the scandal and resigned after some 30 years at the bank. She has been replaced by chief financial officer Jón Guðni Ómarsson.
AfE 2024
For Arion Bank, the winner of this year’s award for Iceland’s best bank, the period was a rather happier one. The bank, which is the third biggest in Iceland by assets, posted earnings in 2023 that chief executive Benedikt Gíslason said were in line with all the bank’s targets.