Stanford International Bank Ltd (in Liquidation) v HSBC Bank PLC

23rd – 24th March 2021

NOTE: THIS IS A STREAM OF A FULLY REMOTE HEARING BEING CONDUCTED VIA MICROSOFT TEAMS

Stanford International Bank Ltd (‘SIB’), appeal, with the permission of Nugee J (as he then was), paragraph 1 of his order of 31 July 2020, whereby he struck out the Claimant’s claim for dishonest/reckless assistance in breach of trust. The claim was brought by SIB which is now in liquidation, by its joint liquidators.

SIB was an Antiguan bank run by its ultimate beneficial owner, Mr Robert Allen Stanford, who has been convicted in the United States and sentenced to a term of imprisonment. The allegation in the claim was that SIB was, from the start, a Ponzi scheme. The allegations are that the bank is heavily insolvent to the tune of some £5bn. HSBC operated as a correspondent bank for SIB from 2003 onwards and, in particular, operated four accounts for SIB.

The allegation is that HSBC failed in breach of its duty under Barclays Bank plc v Quincecare Ltd [1992] 4 AER 363 (‘the Quincecare duty’) to take sufficient care to see that the monies that were being paid out from accounts under its control were being properly paid out. This matter is linked to another case, which is an appeal by HSBC against parts of the same order.

View hearing:

Day 1

Part 1

Part 2

Day 2

Part 1

Part 2