Kaupthing Finnish operations halted by authorities

STOCKHOLM, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Finland's financial services watchdog said on Thursday it had halted the operations of Kaupthing Banki's KAUP.IC Finnish unit until further notice.

Iceland's financial authority said on Thursday it was taking control of the country's biggest bank, Kaupthing, the third of the country's banks to be taken over in a week.

"With the consent of the Icelandic Financial Supervisory Authority, the Financial Supervision Authority (FIN-FSA) has decided to suspend, until further notice, the operations of Kaupthing Bank hf, Finnish Branch, and appointed a representative for the branch," the Finnish watchdog said in a statement.

"Kaupthing's online bank is not operational at the moment and deposit withdrawals may not be made in Finland. The suspension of operations until further notice promotes the equal treatment of all depositors."