Constructive Trusts: The Lurking Danger

A banker receiving an unexpectedly large deposit into an account has to juggle the risks of a number of threats: avoiding liability in money laundering, tipping-off offences, and not least the threat posed by the civil law concept of constructive trust. A constructive trust claim could cost the bank a substantial amount of money and, unlike the system for criminal fines under POCA, there is no tariff to cap the amount. Duncan Aldred, a partner in the Banking Litigation team has written a full and detailed article on the issues facing a bank holding money on constructive trust.

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Full Article

You are a banker. A heavy deposit comes in. You are happy about this, but alarm bells ring because you know about the risks around money laundering. Maybe, on this occasion, the deposit arrives into the account of an established customer, so there is no need for a Know Your Customer check to be carried out. But if you