The OMX Iceland 15 is a defunct stock market index

Stock market index

A stock market index is a method of measuring a section of the stock market. Many indices are cited by news or financial services firms and are used as benchmarks, to measure the performance of portfolios such as mutual funds....

 which consisted of a maximum of 15 companies listed on the OMX

OMX

OMX AB is a Swedish-Finnish financial services company, formed in 2003 through a merger between OM AB and HEX plc and is now a part of the NASDAQ OMX Group since February 2008.It has two divisions, OMX Exchanges, which operates eight stock exchanges mainly in the Nordic and Baltic...

 Iceland Stock Exchange

Iceland Stock Exchange

NASDAQ OMX Iceland or ICEX was established in 1985 as a joint venture of several banks and brokerage firms on the initiative of the central bank. Trading began in 1986 in Icelandic government bonds, and trading in equities began in 1990. Equities trading increased rapidly thereafter...

 with the highest market capitalization

Market capitalization

Market capitalization is a measurement of the value of the ownership interest that shareholders hold in a business enterprise. It is equal to the share price times the number of shares outstanding of a publicly traded company...

. At the final official review of the index effective in January 2009, 12 companies made up the index, four of which were Faroese

Faroe Islands

The Faroe Islands are an island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Scotland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark proper and Greenland...

. Calculated daily since 1998 and starting at 1,000 points, it was a market value-weighted index and the constituent companies were reviewed twice a year.

Over the year 2008 and over the entire decade 1998-2008 the OMX Iceland 15 was the worst performing stock index in the world, being heavily affected by the 2008 Icelandic financial crisis which saw a number of index constituents become insolvent

Insolvency

Insolvency means the inability to pay one's debts as they fall due. Usually used to refer to a business, insolvency refers to the inability of a company to pay off its debts.Business insolvency is defined in two different ways:...

, be nationalised

Nationalization

Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...

 or opt to delist from the exchange. The index was discontinued in July 2009 and replaced by the OMX Iceland 6

OMX Iceland 6

The OMX Iceland 6 is a stock market index consisting of the 6 companies listed on the OMX Iceland Stock Exchange with the highest market capitalization. It has been the benchmark index of the exchange since July 2009, when the OMX Iceland 15 was retired. It has been calculated daily since 31...

 as the exchange's benchmark stock index, which had run concurrently for the previous six months.

2008 decline

OMX Iceland 15 suffered a great loss during the financial crisis in 2008. Trading in the stock market was suspended for three successive trading days, October 9, October 10, and October 13. Trading was resumed on October 14, 2008, and OMX Iceland 15 closed at 678.4, which corresponds to a fall of about 77% compared with its close at 3,004.6 on October 8, 2008. This reflected the fact that the value of the three big banks (Glitnir

Glitnir (bank)

Glitnir was an international Icelandic bank. It was created by the state-directed merger of the country's three privately held banks - Alþýðubanki , Verzlunarbanki and Iðnaðarbanki - and one failing publicly held bank - Útvegsbanki - to form Íslandsbanki in 1990...

, Kaupthing Bank

Kaupthing Bank

Kaupthing Bank was an international Icelandic bank, headquartered in Reykjavík, Iceland. It was formed by the merger of Kaupthing and Búnaðarbanki Íslands in 2003 and was the largest bank in Iceland....

 and Landsbanki Íslands

Landsbanki

Landsbanki, also commonly known as Landsbankinn in Iceland, is a private Icelandic bank with international operations...

) which formed 73.2 percent of the value of the OMX Iceland 15, had been set to zero.

Final composition

The index consisted of the following companies at the final index reshuffle effective on 2 January 2009. Both Straumur

Straumur Investment Bank

Straumur-Burdaras Investment Bank hf. was a regional investment bank headquartered in Reykjavik, Iceland, that was closed by regulators in March 2009.The company was mainly owned by Björgólfur Guðmundsson and his son Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson...

 and SPRON were delisted from the exchange before the index's retirement six months later.

Company	GICS Global Industry Classification Standard The Global Industry Classification Standard is an industry taxonomy developed by MSCI and Standard & Poor's for use by the global financial community. The GICS structure consists of 10 sectors, 24 industry groups, 68 industries and 154 sub-industries into which S&P has categorized all major...  Sector	Ticker symbol
Alfesca	packaged foods and meats	A
Atlantic Airways Atlantic Airways Atlantic Airways is the national airline of the Faroe Islands, operating domestic helicopter services and international passenger services as well as search and rescue responsibilities from its base at Vágar Airport, on the Faroese island of Vágar...	airlines
Atlantic Petroleum Atlantic Petroleum (Faroe Islands) Atlantic Petroleum P/F is an oil and gas company situated in Faroe Islands. It participates in exploration on the Faroese Continental Shelf and offshore Ireland, and in exploration, appraisal and development in the United Kingdom's sector of the North Sea....	oil and gas exploration and production
Bakkavör Bakkavör Bakkavör Group hf. is an Icelandic international food manufacturing company specialising in fresh prepared foods and produce. The group operates 66 factories and employs over 20,000 people in nine countries with a pro-forma turnover in 2007 of £1.5 billion. The group’s head office is in Reykjavík...	packaged foods and meats
Eik Banki Eik Banki Eik Banki Føroya P/F is a financial services group in the Faroe Islands, which was previously one of the two major privately-owned banking firms based in the country. Established in 1832, the group, which also operated in mainland Denmark, encompassed retail, corporate and investment banking...	regional banks
Eimskipafélag Íslands Eimskipafélag Íslands Hf. Eimskipafélag Íslands is a large Icelandic investment company, focused on investments in the transportation industry. The company was formed on January 1, 2005, from several long standing companies. In 2005, Eimskipafélag Íslands was ranked the second fastest growing business in Europe by the...	marine	HFEIM
Føroya Banki	regional banks
Icelandair Group Icelandair Group Icelandair Group hf is an Icelandic travel industry corporation, the owner of the airline Icelandair and numerous other travel industry companies...	airlines
Marel Food Systems	industrial machinery
SPRON	regional banks	SPRON
Straumur-Burðarás Straumur Investment Bank Straumur-Burdaras Investment Bank hf. was a regional investment bank headquartered in Reykjavik, Iceland, that was closed by regulators in March 2009.The company was mainly owned by Björgólfur Guðmundsson and his son Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson...	investment banking and brokerage	STRB
Össur Ossur Össur is a company making non-invasive orthopaedics. It makes and sells bracing and support products, compression therapy, and prosthetics. The company’s headquarters are in Reykjavík, Iceland. The company also has extensive operations in the Americas, Europe, and Asia, with numerous distributors...	health care equipment