Some 1,300 clients of BlackBee Investments, the Cork-based investment firm that was put into liquidation in May, have filed claims with the State’s investor compensation scheme.
The figure is contained in the Investor Compensation Company’s (ICCL) latest annual report, for the 12 months to July, published on Friday.
However, the report said that it is not yet known if compensatable losses will arise for clients of BlackBee Investments, as the liquidators Luke Charleton and Colin Farquharson of EY continue to investigate the affairs of the failed firm.
“In accordance with investor compensation legislation, the ICCL is obliged to invite claims for compensation from clients within a specified time frame (five months) in circumstances where an authorised investment firm has failed,” the report said.
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The Central Bank said in May that it had “engaged extensively” with BlackBee Investment for almost three years before it moved to have liquidators appointed to the firm, having initially received information in July 2020 about governance, strategy and financial position concerns.
The regulator directed BlackBee Investments, which had €180 million of assets under management at the time of the liquidation, in July 2020 not to make any dividends or other distributions to shareholders for 12 months. It issued a similar order in September last year.
BlackBee Investments said in a statement at the time that it had been in winddown since 2020 and that its assets had fallen by 50 per cent over the period.
At the end of July, the ICCL had the capacity to pay out €171 million of claims, including money built up in its two funds as well as insurance coverage under so-called excess of loss policies.
The compensation scheme is primarily aimed at small investors and provides compensation of up to €20,000 for each investor for claims covered. The ICCL collects levies annually from investment firms in order to build the reserves from which compensation can be paid. It does not receive any funding from the State.
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