Tribunal Confirms Sanctions Against Banque Havilland Over Qatari Riyal Scheme

Key Takeaways

• Economic Harm Was the Objective: The Tribunal agreed the strategy was designed to weaken the Qatari riyal and damage Qatar’s economy.
• Integrity Failures Were Central: Findings of lying to the FCA and the court were critical to the outcome.
• Heavy Sanctions Confirmed: Multi-million-pound fines and lifetime bans were upheld despite a reduced penalty for the bank.

Deep Dive

A UK tribunal has backed the Financial Conduct Authority’s findings against Banque Havilland, concluding that the bank and two senior figures deliberately devised a scheme intended to undermine the Qatari economy and then lied to regulators and the court when the plan came to light.

In a recent decision, the Upper Tribunal upheld the FCA’s determination that Banque Havilland (now operating under the name Rangecourt) acted without integrity by creating a manipulative trading strategy designed to attack the Qatari riyal and break its peg to the US dollar.

The Tribunal agreed that significant sanctions were warranted, confirming financial penalties of £4 million for the bank, £352,000 for former London chief executive Edmund Rowland, and £14,200 for former employee Vladimir Bolelyy. It also upheld lifetime bans preventing both men from working in financial services.

A Strategy That Went Beyond Aggressive Trading

At the heart of the case was an internal proposal that went well beyond aggressive market positioning. Draft documents showed a plan explicitly aimed at weakening Qatar’s currency and, by extension, damaging the country’s broader economy. One early version of the strategy was bluntly titled “Setting fire to the neighbour’s house fund,” a phrase the Tribunal viewed as revealing the mindset behind the proposal.

According to the findings, Banque Havilland intended to present the strategy to the Mubadala Investment Company. The Tribunal accepted the FCA’s argument that Mr Rowland was attempting to impress Mubadala in the hope of securing future business and financial benefit for the bank and his family. Mr Bolelyy was found to have played a key role in developing and supporting the proposal.

Lies to the Regulator and the Court

The misconduct did not end with the creation of the strategy itself. In its ruling, the Tribunal found that Mr Rowland lied to the FCA during the investigation and later repeated those falsehoods under oath. It also concluded that he persuaded Mr Bolelyy to lie as well.

Those integrity failures weighed heavily in the Tribunal’s decision to uphold the bans, reinforcing the FCA’s position that the case was not merely about poor judgment or reckless trading ideas, but about deliberate wrongdoing compounded by attempts to obstruct regulatory scrutiny.

Steve Smart, executive director of Enforcement and Market Oversight at the FCA, said the ruling sent a clear message.

“Motivated by greed, Banque Havilland, Mr Rowland and Mr Bolelyy had a plan to seriously damage the Qatari economy,” Smart said. “It is right that they have been held to account.”

Reduced Fine, but Findings Stand

While the FCA had originally proposed a £10 million fine for Banque Havilland, the Tribunal concluded that £4 million was the appropriate penalty. Even so, it left the regulator’s core findings untouched, firmly endorsing the conclusion that the conduct crossed fundamental lines of market integrity.

The ruling also touched on the position of David Rowland, the bank’s ultimate owner and father of Edmund Rowland, who exercised third-party rights to challenge references to him in the FCA’s Decision Notices. The Tribunal agreed that some statements about him were not justified, but ultimately dismissed his references.

Separately, the FCA’s earlier decision to fine former employee David Weller £54,000 for his role in the misconduct remains in place. Mr Weller did not challenge that decision before the Tribunal.

The judgment represents a rare example of enforcement action rooted not just in market abuse, but in an explicit attempt to weaponise financial markets against a sovereign economy and a reminder of how seriously UK regulators view integrity when it fails at the highest levels.

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