Which exchange lost about 90% of its value during Iceland’s 2008 financial collapse?

The Iceland Stock Exchange lost about 90% of its value during Iceland’s 2008 financial collapse.

Iceland’s three largest commercial banks—Glitnir, Landsbanki, and Kaupthing—expanded rapidly during the years before 2008. Their foreign liabilities became enormous compared with Iceland’s economy, leaving them exposed when global credit markets froze after the crisis intensified.

The banks failed in October 2008, and trading in the main stock index was suspended for several days. When the market reopened, the index plunged, eventually losing roughly 90% from its 2007 peak. The exchange itself continued to operate, but most of the index’s former value was tied to the collapsed financial sector.

This event is sometimes described simply as a stock-market crash, but it was fundamentally a banking and sovereign-finance crisis. Iceland’s currency, the króna, also suffered a dramatic fall, and the government sought an emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund. The Iceland Stock Exchange later became part of Nasdaq Iceland.