We are pleased to report that we have defeated HSBC’s application for strike out or summary judgment on our claims against them which means that our case against HSBC can now proceed to trial. See attached copy of the written judgment of Justice Nugee of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales. The claims which HSBC were seeking to have struck out, or summary judgement entered on, were as follows:

1. That HSBC failed in its Quincecare duty to take sufficient care to see that the monies being paid out from accounts under its control were being properly paid out.
2. That HSBC should be liable for dishonest assistance in relation to breaches of fiduciary duty by Robert Alan Stanford.

After a two day virtual hearing on 30 and 31 July, Mr Justice Nugee decided as follows:

1. To dismiss HSBC’s application for the strike out or summary judgment of SIB’s Quincecare claim.
2. To accept HSBC’s application to strike out SIB’s claim of dishonest assistance. However, the Judge did not give summary judgment against us on that claim. The Judge noted that should information come to light during the disclosure process that is supportive of a case for dishonest assistance we can re-plead this case for trial.
3. The stay on this case that had been previously imposed is now lifted and parties are to resume preparations for trial.

See link to the copy of the judgement. This is a good result for SIB and despite our claim for dishonest assistance being struck out we believe that our Quincecare claim is strong and will continue to pursue that claim. We will also carefully review the disclosure to determine whether or not it provides sufficient information and evidence to allow us to re-plead our dishonest assistance claim. Next steps are to carry out disclosure between the parties and ultimately we are hopeful that the full trial of this matter will be heard in October 2021.

We will continue to post updates on any significant developments in this and other cases.