Stanford International Bank Ltd (in liquidation) (Appellant) v HSBC Bank PLC (Respondent)
Case ID: 2021/0103
Case summary
Issue
Does an insolvent company suffer any loss if payments are made out of its bank accounts which discharge a debt owed by that company in an equivalent amount?
Facts
Stanford International Bank ("SIB") collapsed into insolvency on 15 April 2009. SIB’s case is that it was defrauded by its owner, Mr Stanford, via a Ponzi scheme. Through its liquidators, SIB made two claims against HSBC Bank plc, which had operated bank accounts for SIB until they were frozen in February 2009. The first claim was that HSBC negligently failed to spot signs that SIB was being run as a Ponzi scheme (the Quincecare claim). The second claim was that HSBC dishonestly assisted Mr Stanford’s breaches of fiduciary duty.
HSBC applied to strike out both claims. It succeeded in the High Court as regards the dishonest assistance claim but SIB’s Quincecare claim survived. Both parties appealed to the Court of Appeal, which dismissed SIB’s appeal (upholding the decision to strike out the dishonest assistance claim) and granted HSBC’s appeal in respect of the Quincecare claim (striking it out as well). SIB now appeals to the Supreme Court.
Judgment appealed
Parties
Appellant(s)
Stanford International Bank Ltd (in liquidation)
Respondent(s)
HSBC Bank PLC
Appeal
Justices
Lord Hodge, Lord Kitchin, Lord Sales, Lord Leggatt, Lady Rose
Hearing start date
19 January 2022
Hearing finish date
19 January 2022
| Watch hearing | ||
|---|---|---|
| 19 Jan 2022 | Morning session | Afternoon session |
Judgment details
Judgment date
21 December 2022
Neutral citation
[2022] UKSC 34
- Judgment (PDF)
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- Judgment on The National Archives (HTML version)
- Judgment on BAILII (HTML version)
This judgment was reuploaded on 1 March 2023 to amend minor typographical errors in paragraphs 19, 68, 73, and 119.
| Watch Judgment summary | |
|---|---|
| 21 December 2022 | Judgment summary |