Court Upholds CIMA’s Appointment of Controllers for Caledonian Entities

GRAND CAYMAN (Thursday, 12 February 2015) The Grand Court of the Cayman Islands has upheld the appointment by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) of a Controller for Caledonian Bank Ltd. and Caledonian Securities Ltd. 

CIMA appointed Mr. Keiran Hutchison and Ms. Claire Loebell of the firm of Ernst & Young Ltd. as Controllers.  The Authority took this action on 10 February 2015, on learning of an investigation and filing by the United States Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding the two entities headquartered in the Cayman Islands and regulated by CIMA. The shareholders of the Caledonian entities subsequently purported to appoint Joint Voluntary Liquidators for the companies.

In a judgement handed down today, Chief Justice Hon. Anthony Smellie, confirmed the power of the Authority to appoint a Controller, under Section 18 of the Banks and Trust Companies Law, and found that the appointment of the Joint Voluntary Liquidators was a “brutum fulmen” or a blank shot, having no effect in law over the affairs of the Licensee.

The Court proceedings involved an application by Maples and Calder, on behalf of the Joint Voluntary Liquidators appointed by the sole shareholder of Caledonian Bank, to bring the voluntary liquidation under their supervision.

The Court ruling means that the appointment of the Controller by CIMA vests immediate control of the Licensees’ affairs in the Controller.  The Controller will report the initial findings on the status of the entities in short order to both CIMA and the Court, and the Authority will then be in a position to determine what further action to take in the interest of the relevant stakeholders.

CIMA was represented in the proceedings by Mr. André Mon Désir and Mrs. Angelina Partridge.

In the meantime, interested parties may contact the Controllers by forwarding written correspondence to Mr. Barry MacManus by email to barry.macmanus@ky.ey.com.