During the 2008 Icelandic financial crisis, the OMX Iceland 15 fell by approximately 76% in October.
The collapse followed years of rapid expansion by Iceland’s three largest banks: Kaupthing, Landsbanki and Glitnir. Their foreign assets and liabilities grew to several times the size of Iceland’s economy, leaving them highly exposed when international credit markets froze in 2008. Glitnir was placed under state control in September, followed by Landsbanki and Kaupthing in October.
The stock-market plunge reflected the banking crisis, but it was not simply a normal share-price correction. Trading in many listed companies was suspended, and the exchange was temporarily closed. The OMX Iceland 15 was later relaunched under a revised name and composition.
The figure is often confused with the krona’s fall or the banks’ losses. Those were separate measurements: the 76% figure refers specifically to the Icelandic benchmark stock index during October 2008.