BOSSES at Ipswich Council were today due to get some good news about their investments in failed Icelandic banks.They are expecting to be told they should get back most of the �1 million invested in the Heritable Bank - although the situation regarding �4 million invested in Landsbanki and Glitnir banks is less hopeful.

BOSSES at Ipswich Council were today due to get some good news about their investments in failed Icelandic banks.

They are expecting to be told they should get back most of the �1 million invested in the Heritable Bank - although the situation regarding �4 million invested in Landsbanki and Glitnir banks is less hopeful..

Several banks in Iceland were taken over by the country's authorities when the nation's financial system seized up in October last year, trapping around �800 million of UK local authority funds.

According to the BBC, the administrators for Heritable Bank, have indicated its creditors could receive around 80per cent of their funds back - equating to a total repayment of about �300 million.

Ipswich council leader Liz Harsant said the borough had always been hopeful of getting some money back from Heritable, and if 80 pc could be recovered that would be good news.

“That would be a real bonus for us - but there is concern about the �4 million we have with the other banks. That doesn't look so promising.

“We had been told there should be some money left with Heritable but things have always been rather more worrying with the others - and that is where most of our Icelandic money is,” she added.

Last month the Audit Commission said a number of local authorities, not including Ipswich, "negligently'' deposited almost �33 million in Icelandic banks in the final days before their collapse.

The commission found that seven English authorities breached official guidance and their own treasury management protocols in continuing to invest in Iceland after the banks' credit ratings were downgraded below acceptable levels.