RICHARD SPILG,
Sir, - I write with regard to the Irish media's persistent reference to the so-called "Ansbacher deposits" in the context of the ongoing inquiry into the affairs of Ansbacher (Cayman) Limited by court- appointed inspectors. This legal process has been underway since September, 1999.
The business under investigation was initiated in the early 1970s and undertaken by Guinness Mahon Cayman Trust Limited. This company was incorporated in Cayman in 1971 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Guinness & Mahon (Ireland) Limited, a fully licensed Irish bank based in Dublin. The Ansbacher Group purchased a majority shareholding in Guinness Mahon Cayman Trust Limited in mid 1988, and subsequently the company's name was changed to Ansbacher (Cayman) Limited.
In one form or another therefore, the Guinness Mahon Group owned the business which is the subject of investigation for a period of some 17 years. Ansbacher accordingly had no association with this business for that entire period.
The recent press referrals to the "worst face" of Ireland in the 1970s and 1980s does not reflect the fact that the business was undertaken in the name of, and under the ownership of, the Guinness Mahon Group.
This persistent misdescription (as a result of which Ansbacher is now unfairly and incorrectly used as a code word to excite emotions and convey imputations of wrongdoing), is prejudicially damaging to the Ansbacher Group and its clients.
The Ansbacher Group has been in existence for over a hundred years and is a well regulated banking group with strong parentage.
Whilst we recognise the need to report on the progress of the investigation, Ansbacher and its clients ask only to be treated fairly. - Yours, etc,
RICHARD SPILG, Group CEO, Ansbacher, London