Ansbacher complains over use of name

The Ansbacher group has complained about the use of its name in media reports covering the "Ansbacher deposits" writes Colm Keena.

Group chief executive Mr Richard Spilg, in a letter to The Irish Times, has complained that Ansbacher Cayman was owned by Guinness & Mahon bank in Dublin from its incorporation in 1971 up to the 1980s. It was bought by the Ansbacher group in 1988.

"In one form or another, therefore, the Guinness Mahon group owned the business which is the subject of [the High Court inspectors] investigation for a period of some 17 years. Ansbacher accordingly had no association with this business for that entire period."

Mr Spilg said recent press reports associating Ansbacher Cayman with the "worst face" of Ireland in the 1970s and 1980s did not reflect that the business was undertaken in the name of and under the ownership of the Guinness Mahon group.

Mr Spilg was referring to a court hearing last week where two unidentified individuals sought permission to take a case anonymously in the High Court. They want to keep their names out of the report of the High Court inspectors, who are investigating Ansbacher Cayman.

Mr Michael Collins SC, for the two individuals, said in court that to be associated with the Ansbacher deposits was to be associated with the worst face of Ireland in the 1970s and 1980s.

The letter from Ansbacher is thought to be the first public comment from the group since the existence of the "Ansbacher deposits" was disclosed in 1997. Ansbacher Cayman is a subsidiary of Ansbacher & Co Ltd, of London.

"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," said Mr Spilg.