The Bank of Butterfield has entered into an agreement to acquire Deutsche Bank’s banking and custody business in Jersey, Guernsey and the Cayman Islands, which provides services primarily to financial intermediaries and corporate clients. Terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.
Deutsche Bank has decided to sell its banking and custody business in the islands as part of a plan to streamline its operations, and will ask its clients to transfer their banking business to Butterfield.
In a statement following the announcement of the acquisition, it said: “Deutsche Bank will have a continued presence in the Channel Islands, including its DBx platform.”
Butterfield, which has operated in Cayman and Guernsey for over 50 years and 45 years respectively, says it intends to offer positions to most Deutsche Bank employees in the acquired business. This includes employees in Mauritius who provide operations and support services to the Cayman and Channel Islands banking and custody businesses.
Butterfield announced in October 2017 that it had reached an agreement to acquire Deutsche Bank’s Global Trust Solutions business in the Cayman Islands, Switzerland, Guernsey, Singapore and Mauritius.
Michael Collins, Butterfield’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, explained: “The acquisition of Deutsche Bank’s Global Trust Solutions business announced in October will provide Butterfield with a Singapore trust company. And with this banking transaction, we will gain a presence in Jersey to complement our existing Guernsey-based Channel Islands bank.”
The transaction is expected to close in stages during 2018, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
A cross-jurisdictional Carey Olsen team has advised Butterfield on all aspects of the transaction, including corporate, regulatory, employment and property matters, working alongside Sullivan & Cromwell.
The Carey Olsen team was led by James Willmott (Jersey) along with Partners Peter German (Jersey) and Chris Philpott (Jersey), Jarrod Farley (Cayman Islands) and Tony Lane (Guernsey). The team also included Counsel Huw Thomas (Jersey), Senior Associates Katherine Tresca (Jersey) and Arya Hashemi (Guernsey) and Associate Robert Coombes (Cayman Islands).