UK group action specialist Edwin Coe has been instructed to advice depositors who lost over £800m in offshore accounts with troubled Icelandic bank Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander.

Edwin Coe head of litigation, David Greene, is currently advising an action group of approximately 8,000 depositors on their legal options in a bid to retrieve £821m of lost funds from the bank in the Isle of Man.

The bank's Isle of Man operations were frozen along with the rest of the bank when it was taken over by the Icelandic Government last month (8 October).

Greene will be examining what rights the depositors have in any liquidation, as well as their right to compensation and any legal challenges which could be launched against the Icelandic Government following emergency legislation introduced prior to the bank's collapse.

The bank is the subject of a winding-up petition in the Isle of Man which was due to be heard next week but looks to be further adjourned pending negotiations between the Governments of the Isle of Man, UK and Iceland.

Greene said: "The action group seeks to look after the interest of all depositors. Their campaign highlights both the political aspects of events and a solution and the legal rights that depositors have. Those rights may arise in the Isle of Man, the UK and Iceland."

He added: "At the end of the day, depositors – many of whom have lost their life savings – are simply seeking the return of their money. We are here to help in that campaign."

Class action specialist Greene is also currently advising Northern Rock shareholders who are attempting to secure improved compensation following the nationalisation of the crisis-hit lender.

A four-day trial for the case has been set for January 2009 after the Government conceded during a hearing in August that permission should be granted for the shareholders to go to judicial review.