(Bloomberg) -- The European Central Bank has stripped Banque Havilland SA of its license, closing a 15-year chapter that saw the Luxembourg-based private bank face sanctions from regulators over anti-money laundering failings and an alleged attempt to destabilize the economy of Qatar.
The lender will no longer be able to operate from Luxembourg, according to a statement from Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier, the Luxembourg financial regulator. The decision effectively shutters the firm, which is owned by the family of close friends of disgraced British royal Prince Andrew.
In a statement the bank said it will challenge the loss of its license, but would wind down its business “in an orderly manner,” saying the consequences of the ECB’s decision were “irreparable.”
CSSF has requested the lender suspend all payments, which Banque Havilland said it wouldn’t oppose as it protects the “interest of all parties involved.”
A spokesperson for the ECB declined to comment beyond the CSSF statement.
Regulators warned Banque Havilland last month that it would have its license revoked, sparking a series of moves to break up the firm, which has already seen its Liechtenstein and Swiss operations placed into voluntary liquidation and its Monaco unit put up for sale.
Banque Havilland, which is controlled by the family of UK Conservative Party donor David Rowland, could once call upon Prince Andrew to act as an unofficial door-opener to the world’s financial elite. For years, the British royal provided the Rowlands and their bank with introductions to governments, billionaires and top business people, Bloomberg News has previously reported.
Banque Havilland was founded in 2009 after the Rowland family bought the Luxembourg operations of collapsed Icelandic lender Kaupthing.
“Our primary focus is now on minimizing the effects of this disruption to our services and to ensure the repayment of all depositors,” the lender said in a statement published Friday.
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