Icelandic parliament probes possible leak over bank tax figures

Iceland’s parliamentary Constitutional and Supervisory Committee has launched an inquiry into a possible leak after Social Democratic Alliance parliamentary group executive director Þórður Snær Júlíusson said a planned bank tax increase would raise six billion krónur, mbl.is reports.

The figure had not appeared in the government’s financial plan at the time. The stock exchange’s market surveillance team contacted the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, noting that if the figure was accurate it could be inside information with the potential to affect shares in Arion Bank and Íslandsbanki. The same amount later appeared in the government’s 2027 budget bill.

Ingveldur Anna Sigurðardóttir, a committee vice-chair and Independence Party MP, said the committee would ask the ministry what information had been shared before the projected revenue from the bank tax increase was made public. The committee will then decide whether to summon people to give evidence.

Júlíusson mentioned the six-billion-króna figure in an article published on 28 March. The government presented its 2027 budget bill on 7 September, 163 days later. Finance Minister Daði Már Kristófersson declined to comment when asked whether Júlíusson could have received the information from Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir. Asked why the budget bill projected exactly the same revenue, he said he had no explanation.