The private bank owned by David “Spotty” Rowland, the Conservative Party donor, and his family faces a potential threat to its future after it emerged that European regulators were poised to revoke its operating licence.
The Luxembourg-based Banque Havilland, which previously has counted the Duke of York, who is a close friend of Rowland, as a client, has drawn the scrutiny of regulators for years. However, a move by the European Central Bank to strip it of its licence would deal a big blow to the business, effectively blocking it from functioning in Europe. Finews, a Swiss news outlet, was first to report that the ECB was preparing to take action.
The ECB declined to comment. Banque Havilland did not return a request for comment.