Public critisicm may be heating up against banking executives being rewarded with huge bonuses despite taking too much risk (especially ex Merill Lynch head John Thain who requested a bonus and spent $1,405 on a garbage pail during a $1.22 million renovation of his office).

However, there are smaller fish who are being rewarded after doing something similar — taking too much risk and choosing the wrong bank in which to put their deposit. We’re talking about those who deposited in the collapsed Icelandic bank Landsbanki.

Around 300,000 British savers had accounts worth some 4 billion pounds in Landsbanki’s online savings provider Icesave, which offered competitive interest rates of up to 7-plus percent.

Britain has promised domestic Icesave savers would get all their money back via Britain’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme, a statutory body that acts as a fund of last resort.

FSCC offered depositors options of getting all their money back or leaving fixed term savings until maturity.

Those who chose the latter, late last year, are set to receive the full interest promised by Icesave — all 7-plus percent of it.

Since then, benchmark UK interest rates have gone down as low as 1.5 percent (and expected to hit 1 percent next month).

If there’s one thing you don’t want to be, it’s the next Iceland.

Since its currency, colossally indebted banking sector and economy collapsed in spectacular fashion in October, the country has become a byword for an economy that has truly hit the rocks.

Within weeks, banking problems and currency falls meant Hungary was being hyped as a “second Iceland”, at least until a joint International Monetary Fund and European Union rescue package restored some stability.

Next to win the unwanted comparison was Ukraine.  Having lost at one stage half its value, the currency has somewhat stabilised — although most foreign investors are very hesitant to hold Ukrainian assets again.  And like Iceland itself, Ukraine is now dependent on an IMF lifeline.

Now, it is Britain in the limelight.  The New York Times as well as Britain’s Observer and Daily Telegraph newspapers have all made the comparison in recent days.

For people earning and saving in sterling, it is an uncomfortable place to be and nervousness is to be found in the strangest of places.  During a recent visit to a podiatrist, a Reuters correspondent found the conversation punctuated with speculation about the possibility of an IMF bailout for Britain and angst over cutbacks in the National Health Service footcare budget.

Greenland, an arctic island with a population of 57,000, voted for self-governance from Denmark in a referendum on Tuesday. The “Yes” camp won an overwhelming 75 percent of the vote.

Shrimp and halibut fishing and tourism form the backbone of the economy but the island is rich in minerals and its waters may hold vast hydrocarbon reserves.

The resources setting is very much like one of Iceland, although Greenland – made up mostly of Inuit people who live in small, isolated villages – does not have a huge banking sector. (Neither does Iceland these days, some might argue.)

In fact the country does not have roads between towns either. Travel is only possible by boats or planes, weather permitting.

“The conceit is that Greenland would be a commodity economy. However, commodity based economies, as we are seeing, are prone to booms and busts,” writes Marc Chandler, FX strategist at U.S. bank Brown Brothers Harriman.

An eventual independent Greenland is likely to come at a cost. Greenland receives yearly subsidies of 3.2 billion Danish crowns ($557.6 million) from Copenhagen, about a third of its gross domestic product.

Iceland is for sale — on ebay.

It has great scenery and wildlife but the financial situation is in need of repair and a buyer must collect in person.

Bidding started at 99 pence but had reached 10 million pounds ($17.28 million) by mid-morning on Friday.

Globally renowned singer Bjork was “not included” in the sale, according to the notice, but there were nonetheless 26 anonymous bidders and 84 bids.

“Located in the mid-Atlantic ridge in the North Atlantic Ocean, Iceland will provide the winning bidder with — a habitable environment, Icelandic Horses and admittedly a somewhat sketchy financial situation,” the notice reads.

Bidders’ questions included: “Do you offer volcano/earthquake insurance?”, “Is it possible that my payment will be frozen?”, “Is this the tip of the iceberg?” and “Will you accept C.O.D. as a form of payment?”

– By Carolyn Cohn

It’s already on a geological fault line — now the economy of Iceland risks being torn apart by the banking crisis.

But the saga of the North Atlantic island of Iceland does not stop at its own rocky shores.

Riding a wave of cheap borrowing, Icelandic investors spread their interests far and wide, taking stakes in companies as diverse as New York department store Saks, Finnish insurer Sampo and English soccer club West Ham United.

Most famously Baugur, an investment group controlled by entrepreneur Jon Asgeir Johannesson bought up large swathes of Britain’s high street, from the Iceland frozen food chain (appropriately enough) and Hamleys toy store to House of Fraser department stores and fashion group Mosaic.

But what happens now? The cheap credit has dried up; two of Iceland’s biggest banks have been bailed out by the government; credit insurer Euler Hermes has stopped cover for suppliers to some of Baugur’s empire; and West Ham’s Icelandic owner Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson has already been hit by the collapse of team sponsor XL Leisure.

Gudmundsson chairs Icelandic bank Landsbanki, which has now stopped customers withdrawing money from its British internet bank icesave.

Will the hardy Icelanders weather the storm, or will they be forced to sell into a market where they may struggle to find buyers? A case of shop until you drop, perhaps.

After the collapse of Northern Rock, AIG and XL group – which sponsored Newcastle United, Manchester United and West Ham respectively — the curse of English football is getting stronger.

Today Iceland’s Landsbanki went into receivership. Its chairman Björgólfur Gudmundsson owns West Ham football club.

In November 2006, Gudmundsson, Iceland’s second richest man, led an 85 million pound buyout of the east London club in November 2006, investing another 30.5 million pounds in December 2007.

Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra sold his Manchester City football club to an Abu Dhabi-based company having gone into exile in London in August on corruption charges.

Still, Thaksin did make a fat profit.