Amsterdam- An Icelandic bank faces the confiscation of its Dutch assets if it cannot guarantee customers access to their accounts.

The bank, Icesave, is a subsidiary of Landsbanki, Iceland's second largest bank.

It began operations in the Netherlands in late May and has attracted 75,000 account holders with promises of unlimited deposits and withdrawals and interest rates significantly above the national average.

But when Iceland moved to nationalize its banking system Monday, Landsbanki was found to be on the brink of bankruptcy.

At the same time, Dutch account holders were blocked from accessing their Icesave savings accounts.

Maarten van der Donk, director of the private NIB debt collection agency told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that a legal petition will be filed by Monday to allow account holders to claim the bank's assets if they cannot access their deposits.

After access was cut, attempts to log onto the bank's website resulted in error messages.

Icesave's local phone help desk remained closed.

"But meanwhile the Icesave website still advertised itself as a bank with a top rating and full and continuous supervision by the central Dutch bank DNB," van der Donk said.

The text remained on the compnay's website until 1730 Tuesday, he said.

By Wednesday morning, Icesave's website was completely offline.

Dutch central bank DNB released a short statement saying it was "speaking with the Icelandic authorities about how to compensate the Dutch account holders".

Formally, the Icelandic central bank guarantees the first 20,000 euros (27,100 dollars) for all Dutch account holders in case of bankruptcy.

The Dutch central bank is responsible for the remainder, which can run from between 20,000 euros to a new maximum of 100,000 euros set this week.

"The DNB and the minister of finance failed to do their jobs," van der Donk said. "What kind of authority allows a bank to come and get the money of 75,000 account holders and run off within four months?" (dpa)