Landsbanki’s chief economist, Yngvi Orn Kristinsson, barely raises an eyebrow as the sound of angry chants penetrates the windows of the bank’s headquarters in central Reykjavik. He must have grown used to it by now. Disillusioned Icelanders, incensed by the irresponsibility of their financial and political masters, regularly take to the streets for impromptu protests. Thankfully for Iceland’s leaders, the most violent attack they have experienced so far was when a group of angry citizens hurled snowballs at the chief executive of the failed Baugur Group, Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson, as he crossed a street in the capital last December.
Mr Kristinsson understands their pain. “It was necessary in October for the relevant officials in the financial services authority, the central bank and the government to step down,” he says. “The fact they didn’t led to an intensification of the protest because people were outraged that they were not taking responsibility for what happened.”
