The Central Bank of Iceland has introduced the Investment Programme where parties intending to invest in Iceland and sell foreign currency at at domestic financial institutions are permitted to participate in the Central Bank‘s foreign exchange auctions for the same amount, provided the funds will be used for long-term domestic investment.

The Investment Programme, with its planned foreign exchange auctions, is intended to facilitate the removal of the capital controls without causing any major exchange rate or monetary instability.
Investors that already own offshore krónur and intend to invest them for a long-term commitment period, and that sell foreign currency at a domestic financial institution, will be enabled to transfer the offshore krónur to Iceland if the krónur have been owned continuously by the investor since 28 November 2008. The amount of offshore krónur that may be repatriated in this manner will be equivalent to the foreign currency sold by the investor to the domestic financial institution concerned, at the exchange rate resulting from the Central Bank auctions.

The first auctions will be advertised in greater detail by the Central Bank of Iceland.

Detailed terms of Currency Transactions in accordance with the Investment Programme are available on the Central Bank website.

Further information can be obtained from Már Guðmundsson, Governor of the Central Bank, and Þorgeir Eyjólfsson, Capital Account Liberalisation Project Manager, at tel: +354 569 9600.