Ethics and governance in the European Financial centers

Bloomberg has reported that BNP Paribas SA, France’s biggest bank, lost two lawsuits seeking to force UBS AG to release a combined 2.5 million euros ($3.1 million) that had been invested with two funds linked to Bernard Madoff.
UBS has won four straight rulings over investors seeking the immediate return of their funds since the bank lost the first case filed by French fund manager Oddo & Cie. seeking 30 million euros from the LuxAlpha fund. Since then, court’s have supported UBS’s arguments that it can’t release money to investors until all investor claims have been filed. UBS appealed the ruling by ordering it to reimburse a French fund-management company €30 million ($38.6 million) that had been invested with New York financier Bernard Madoff. The decision is pending.

All cases are relating to redemption requests which took place before Madoff was arrested.

Luxembourg cannot inspire confidence.

So cannot inspire confidence the CSSF, that took measures "in order to protect the interests of investors" as it said only a couple of weeks after the begining of the Madof Case.
- 03/03/2009, Withdrawal of the sicav Luxembourg Investment Fund from the official list,
- 11/02/2009, Withdrawal of the sicav HERALD (LUX) from the official list,
- 03/02/2009, Withdrawal of Luxalpha Sicav from the official list.

It is as if we had an infringement to the traffic regulations: someone burns a stop, and only three months later the whistle of the policeman is heard.

The reality is that the rules in the jurisdiction are so confused that there is an actual legal insecurity.