10:00am Monday 6th July 2009
By Emily Walker, Chief Reporter
A council will get more money back than expected after investing in an Icelandic bank.
West Sussex County Council invested £12.9million in Heritable, the UK licensed bank which went into administration last year following the collapse of Landsbank.
The council has expected to only recover 70% of the investment, but there are now hopes to be able to retrieve 80%.
A report presented at a meeting of the council's regulation, audit and accounts committee said the council should now only lose £2.6million and the first payments could be made by the end of this month or early next month.
Coun Louise Goldsmith, cabinet member for finance and resources, said: “The administrators may have spoken about creditors only securing 80 per cent of their investment, but they have to err on the side of caution.
"Heritable is still trading and making money, so the prospects of a better return are in place."
West Sussex was one of several local authorities and charities to have invested in Heritable UK and the county council followed Government guidelines and took professional advice before investing in Heritable.
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