UK fraud office drops Kaupthing probe

LONDON -- Britain's Serious Fraud Office has ended an investigation of Iceland's Kaupthing bank after concluding there was insufficient evidence to justify extending the three-year probe.

Since December 2009, the office had been investigating whether Kaupthing made false claims in seeking British investors in Kaupthing Edge, billed as a high-yield deposit account. The Serious Fraud Office was also looking at why "substantial value" was taken out of the bank shortly before it collapsed in November 2008.

Although the U.K. investigation has ended, the Serious Fraud Office said Monday that it would continue its "close cooperation" with the Special Prosecutor's Office in Reykjavik.