Icelandic loan guarantees referendum, 2010

The Icelandic loan guarantees referendum, also known as the Icesave referendum (Icelandic: Þjóðaratkvæðagreiðsla um Icesave), was held in Iceland on 6 March 2010.

The referendum was held to approve the terms of a state guarantee on the obligation of the Depositors' and Investors' Guarantee Fund (Tryggingarsjóður innstæðueigenda og fjárfesta), in particular a €3.8 billion loan (€11,964 per person) from the governments of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands to cover deposit insurance obligations in those countries. The referendum was held under article 26 of the Constitution of Iceland after President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson refused to counter-sign the corresponding Act of Parliament (known as the second Icesave bill) into law on 5 January 2010. The proposal was resoundingly defeated, with 98% voting against and less than 2% in favor.

The referendum was the first to be held in Iceland since 1944, and required special legislation. The Althing (Iceland's parliament) approved a motion on 8 January 2010 which called for the referendum to be held by 6 March at the latest. The motion passed by 49–0 with 14 abstentions. The date of the referendum was later set for 6 March.

The liabilities of the Depositors' and Investors' Guarantee Fund arise from the 2008–2012 Icelandic financial crisis, which saw Iceland's three main commercial banks collapse within the space of a week. One of those banks, Landsbanki, had taken retail deposits from more than 400,000 British and Dutch customers through its branches in London and Amsterdam, through a product known as "Icesave".

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