While the UK faced a taxpayer-funded bailout of "too big to fail" banks and largely spared high-profile executives from legal consequences, Iceland took a bold, divergent path.

With its own economic collapse, Iceland nationalized failing institutions, imposed strict capital controls, and prosecuted over 30 bankers and executives—including CEOs of major collapsed banks—for crimes like market manipulation and fiduciary breaches.

We compare the two nations’ responses, highlighting Iceland’s commitment to the rule of law and prioritizing citizens over corporate interests, and ask whether the UK can learn from this model to rebuild trust, ensure fair governance, and foster long-term economic stability.

Key Takeaways:

• The UK’s post-2008 crisis relied on bailouts without meaningful individual accountability, sparking public cynicism.
• Iceland’s unprecedented prosecution of bankers post-collapse demonstrated a stark commitment to justice and national sovereignty.
• Both cases reveal tensions between institutional power, public trust, and the principles of fair play and responsible stewardship.
• A lesson in rebuilding resilience: Prioritizing collective stability over corporate interests, and enforcing rules without exception, can restore faith in a nation’s economic and legal systems.

Themes: Accountability, rule of law, economic resilience, national sovereignty, and the ethics of financial governance.