The Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England all rejected Iceland's requests, stating, according to the Central Bank of Iceland, that the Icelandic financial system was too large relative to the size of the economy for plausible swap lines to be effective.

ECONOMIST: Iceland

Most of the cost "was incurred in the months before the banks failed, when the central bank of Iceland lent to them against collateral of dubious quality... in what appears with hindsight to have been a strategy of gambling for resurrection".

BBC: Icelandic lessons for the eurozone

After watching the currency free-fall for several days, the Central Bank of Iceland stepped in Tuesday to fix the exchange rate of the krona at 175 a level equal to 131 krona against the euro.

NPR: Iceland Shivers From Financial Crisis