Luxembourg-based Banque Havilland has failed in its challenge to penalties imposed by Britain’s financial regulator over an alleged scheme linked to weakening Qatar’s currency, although a UK tribunal has sharply reduced the size of the fine.
In a judgement handed down Tuesday, London’s Upper Tribunal dismissed the bank’s appeal against findings by the Financial Conduct Authority, but cut the penalty to £4mn from the £10mn originally levied.
The tribunal also upheld fines of £352,000 on former CEO Edmund Roland and £14,200 on former employee Vladimir Bolelyy and upheld the decision to ban the pair from working in financial services for life.
Banque Havilland changed its name shortly before the tribunal hearing began and is now known as Rangecourt.
The European Central Bank in 2024 withdrew the bank’s operating licence, in a decision currently under appeal.
The FCA announced in 2023 that it intended to fine the bank after uncovering a presentation that outlined a strategy to put pressure on the Qatari bonds during a period of regional tension as part of a plot to devalue the Qatari riyal.
According to the regulator, the material was prepared as part of an effort to market the bank’s services to Mubadala Investment Company, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund.
The presentation was produced against the backdrop of a diplomatic and economic rift that erupted in 2017, when Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt imposed a blockade on Qatar, accusing it of backing Islamist groups and maintaining close ties with Iran.
An investigation by the FCA found that Banque Havilland created the plan (initially titled ‘Setting fire to the neighbour’s house fund’) to harm the Qatari riyal through manipulative trading strategies.
According to the FCA, the aim was to devalue the Qatari currency and break its peg to the US Dollar, harming the economy of Qatar.
Banque Havilland – which is owned by David “Spotty” Rowland, Edmund’s father – has consistently denied any intention to carry out the transactions described in the document, arguing that the presentation was obtained through hacking and subsequently leaked without authorisation.
The bank referred the FCA’s enforcement action to the Upper Tribunal, contending that the actions of individual employees should not be legally attributed to the institution itself.
The tribunal rejected that defence, concluding that the misconduct amounted to serious regulatory breaches that “encouraged the commission of financial crime and market misconduct”.
Steve Smart, the FCA’s executive director for enforcement and market oversight, said: “Motivated by greed, Banque Havilland, Mr Rowland and Mr Bolelyy had a plan to seriously damage the Qatari economy. It is right that they have been held to account.”
The FCA had previously decided to fine a third employee, David Weller, £54,000 for his role in the misconduct but he did not refer that decision to the tribunal.
