Month: March 2009

Maybe someone out there can lend a hand. I was re-reading the Moriarty Report and came across this:

The genesis of Guinness Mahon Cayman Trust Limited, and how it became a bank in its own right, has already been referred to. In 1984 it was sold by Guinness & Mahon (Ireland) Limited to Guinness Mahon & Co. Limited in London, its parent company. The following year it was sold on to a consortium, which included Mr. Traynor, Mr. Furze and Mr. Collins. In turn they sold a 75% interest to a London bank called Henry Ansbacher & Company, a member of the Ansbacher Group, and the name of the bank was changed to Ansbacher Limited. Its title was since changed again to Ansbacher Cayman Limited, and the remaining 25% interest was also sold to the Ansbacher Group, which itself was later sold to the First National Bank of South Africa.

So in 1985 Traynor, Furze and Collins sold 75% of Guinness Mahon & Co to Henry Ansbacher & Co. The name of the the company changed to Ansbacher Limited, and subsequently the title changed to Ansbacher Cayman Limited. The remaining 25% of the bank was then also sold to the Ansbacher Group, which Henry Ansbacher & Company was part of.

Ansbacher Group, which now owned Ansbacher Limited/Ansbacher Cayman, was then sold to First National Bank of South Africa.

In 1998 the financial services interests of Rand Merchant Bank Holdings and Anglo-American Corporation were merged to form FirstRand Limited, which is now what First National Bank is known as.

A few years ago FirstRand then sold Ansbacher to a Bahrain-based bank.

Now the Anglo website says:

This acquisition was completed in March 1996. Ansbacher (not connected with Henry Ansbacher, London) was established in Ireland in 1950 and provided a full range of banking and investment services. At the time of its acquisition Ansbacher had total assets of EUR 241 million, a deposit portfolio of EUR 222 million and a loan book of EUR 98 million.

I find that odd. There certainly was an Ansbacher and Co (85 Merrion Square; 52 Lower Lesson St) in Ireland in the 1950s, and it was acquired in 1996 by Anglo Irish Bank (later approved in 2000 by Charlie McCreevy). But does that mean that by the mid 1980s there were, for some time at least, two banks operating in Ireland, one called Ansbacher Limited, and the other called Ansbacher Bankers Limited?

The address of Ansbacher Bankers is now listed as the same address as Anglo Irish Bank, according to the CRO.

I was interested to note the following:

On June 13, 2002, it was reported that outgoing Minister for the Environment Noel Dempsey made his appointments to the Dublin Docklands Development Authority. The appointments were:

Lar Bradshsaw (Re-appointed chairman)
Angela Cavendish (Alexsam Corporate Finance)
Donal Curtin (Accountant of Byrne Curtin Kelly)
Declan McCourt (Auto dealer OHM Group)
Niamh O’Sullivan (Arup)
Sean Fitzpatrick (Anglo Irish Bank)
Mary Moylan (Asst Sec Dep of Env)
Joan O’Connor (Interactive Project Managers)

Says Ross in last Sunday’s Independent:

LAST April I met a hotshot Dublin businessman in a southside pub. He was not a household name but — at that time — he was as rich as Croesus. And he was angry at a piece I had written about Anglo Irish Bank.

The meeting was cloak and dagger stuff. He was not keen be seen with me; but he wanted to warn that those who were attacking Anglo would get their comeuppance. He wished to see the story in print.

The hotshot revealed that a group of his well-heeled cronies were determined to set up a revenge fund to punish all those short-sellers who had targeted Anglo. These guys had a sense of ownership: his friends were going to defend “their” bank at all costs. Those standing in the way would be swept aside by the flood of money. Enemies of Anglo would have their fingers badly burnt.

The plan was tinged with emotion; consequently it was all a bit vague, but the plot had been hatched in a Dublin hotel. A figure of €500m directly raised from the “lads” was mentioned. More would be borrowed in order to ensure success.

I still do not know today if this was the birth of the infamous Anglo 10, but I suspect that it bore the seed of the latest scandal.

I blogged Ross’s April article last week. Unfortunately he does not reveal who this Croesus figure is. What is also interesting about the language Ross uses. In April last year it was “big builders and entrepreneurs” and “consortium”. Now it’s “cronies”, “plot”, and “cloak and dagger”.

We have also since learned that the meeting between Brian Cowen and Anglo directors on April 24 (according to a FG spokesman and not denied), was the same day as this meeting between Anglo “cronies” to organise a share support operation. What a coincidence.