Iceland C.bank Head Says Will Not Step Down

Iceland`s financial system collapsed in October after its top commercial banks failed and trade in its currency virtually ceased.

The head of Iceland's central bank, David Oddsson, said on Sunday he will not step down despite criticism from politicians and the public over his role in the country's financial collapse.

Iceland's new prime minister, Johanna Sigurdardottir, has also called on Oddsson to resign and her government has proposed an overhaul of the central bank.

But Oddsson, in a letter posted on the central bank's Web site in Icelandic, was defiant. He said Sigurdardottir's actions were "laughable".

"I have never run away from any task I have taken on and will not do so now," Oddsson said.

Iceland's financial system collapsed in October after its top commercial banks failed and trade in its currency virtually ceased. Since then the country has received a $10 billion financial aid package led by the International Monetary Fund.

Following increasingly violent protests, the coalition government fell apart in late January and was replaced by an interim centre-left government formed by the Social Democratic Alliance and the Left-Greens.

The ramifications have gone beyond the shores of the island nation of 320,000 people. Thousands of foreign investors held savings in the collapsed banks.

On Friday, the British unit of Icelandic investment group Baugur, which owns stakes in several UK high street retailers, was placed into administration.