Charities which lost deposits following the 2008 collapse of Icelandic bank Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander (KSF) could recover up to 70 per cent of funds over the next couple of years, according to Dominic Sullivan, Cats Protection’s director of legal services.

It's good news for the charities who believed they would only recover 50 per cent of deposits from KSF’s administrators.

Sullivan, who spearheaded the campaign group ‘Save Our Savings’ on behalf of 30 affected charities who lost around £50m, told Civil Society that charities had so far had 30 per cent of their deposits returned to them through the administration process led by Ernst and Young.

“We understand that there will be a further distribution in the coming months, but at this point we don’t know when, or how much, it is going to be,” said Sullivan.
 
“However, the administrators have estimated that the total recovery could be between 65 per cent and 70 per cent of the money deposited, over the next couple of years.”

Iceland blocks repayment deal 

The news comes just as Iceland's president blocked a deal to repay almost €4bn lost by UK and Dutch savers in the Icesave arm of the Landsbanki bank which also collapsed in 2008.

The president was reportedly swayed by a petition from a quarter of his country's voting-age population who opposed the deal fearing it would lumber Iceland with unmanageable debts.

The UK and the Netherlands have hinted that the refusal to sign the repayment deal could affect Iceland's bid to join the European Union and  a $10bn international economic rescue plan.