SINGULARIS HOLDINGS LTD V DAIWA CAPITAL MARKETS EUROPE LTD

[2019] UKSC 50, Supreme Court, Lady Hale, Lord Reed, Lord Lloyd-Jones, Lord Sales and Lord Thomas, 30 October 2019

Dishonest assistance with breach of fiduciary duty – Duty of care owed by bank – Contributory negligence – Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945 – Illegality - Attribution

This was an action by the liquidators of Singularis to recover about US$204 million held in June 2009 in a segregated client account by Daiwa, a stockbroker. Singularis was owned by Mr Maan Al Sanea, who also owned the Saad Group based in Saudi Arabia. About US$124 million of the money was surplus collateral, left over when Daiwa closed down a long standing, secured lending relationship it had with Singularis. A further US$80 million had arrived in Singularis’s account with Daiwa on 2 June 2009 from an unknown source