Denton Wilde Sapte, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Slaughter and May are among the advisers lining up to act on the administration of the UK arms of Icelandic banks Kaupthing and Landsbanki.

Freshfields is thought to have taken the lead role for the administrators Ernst & Young on the collapse of Heritable Bank – the Scottish subsidiary of Iceland's Landsbanki – under a team led by head of restructuring and insolvency Ken Baird, restructuring and insolvency partner Nick Segal, dispute resolution partner Neil Golding and restructuring and insolvency counsel Anne Sharp.

The firm is also acted for the Bank of England in relation to both Heritable Bank and UK banking arm Kaupthing Singer & Friedland (KSF), which also went into administration yesterday (8 October).