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The Terra Securities scandal was a scandal that became public in November 2007. It involved highly speculative investments by eight municipalities of Norway in various hedge funds in the United States bond market.〔Mark Landler: ("U.S. Credit Crisis Adds to Gloom in Arctic Norway" ) ''New York Times'', December 2, 2007 (Retrieved on December 2, 2007)〕 The funds were sold by Terra Securities to the municipalities, while the products were delivered by Citigroup. The municipalities involved were Narvik, Rana, Hattfjelldal and Hemnes in Nordland, Vik and Bremanger in Sogn og Fjordane, Haugesund in Rogaland, and Kvinesdal in Vest-Agder, all large producers of hydroelectricity. The investments were very complicated in nature. They were geared, and they involved high risk through a small upside but a very large downside. Terra Securities, now bankrupt, was a subsidiary of Terra Markets, which is owned 66.73% by Terra-Gruppen, an alliance and co-branding company owned by 78 local savings banks in Norway. The remaining 33.27% was owned by the management of the company. Citigroup is the third largest bank in the United States. ==Background== In 2001, Vik municipality found a loophole in the ''Municipality Act'' and invested borrowed money in the stock market, by first investing and then seeking permission later. This utilization of the loophole was confirmed by the Norwegian Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development in 2002, because the money borrowed was secured in future income. Vik had borrowed through DnB Markets based on annual payments of NOK 10M, secured through income from hydroelectric power production. This money was then invested in bonds through Terra Securities in 2001 and 2002. In the same year, in 2001, the four Nordland municipalities Narvik, Rana, Hemnes and Hattfjelldal borrowed money to invest in complicated bonds issued by Citigroup and sold through Terra Securities. The municipalities also signed a confidentiality clause with Terra, which ensured that no independent third party could evaluate the quality of the investments. It has been questioned if such a clause, under the circumstances, was legal. In Narvik's case, part of the capital came from the municipal sale of 50% of Narvik Energi, the municipal power company, in 2002 to DONG Energy and HelgelandsKraft. The other three municipalities had ownership in HelgelandsKraft (Rana 26.8%, Hemnes 7.0% and Hattfjelldal 2.5%) as well as property tax income from power stations owned by Statkraft. These municipalities were investing future income from these sources. The main advisors in Terra were Knut Anders Opstad and Harald Norberg. They had tried to sell the investments to all municipalities with income from power production by contacting the Association of Norwegian Power Municipalities, but had been rejected by the organization. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Terra Securities scandal」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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