The High Court has appointed Luke Charleton and Colin Farquharson of EY as Joint Provisional Liquidators to Cork-based BlackBee Investments Limited.
This follows an application by the Central Bank.
BlackBee Investments Limited is a regulated investment firm with a registered office and corporate headquarters located at City Quarter, Lapp's Quay in Cork.
It is an indirect subsidiary of Blackbee Holdings Limited, the parent company of the group of companies known as the "Blackbee Group", which comprises a number of regulated and unregulated entities.
In a statement, the Central Bank said it is important to note that the appointment of the Joint Provisional Liquidators relates only to BlackBee Investments Limited.
The Central Bank said it had engaged "extensively" with the firm for an extended period in relation to a number of concerns.
These concerns included inadequate corporate governance structures, deterioration of its regulatory capital and liquidity positions and a lack of suitable controls to protect client assets, which resulted in heightened risks to the safeguarding of client interests.
The regulator said that despite extensive supervisory engagement in an effort to find a solution that protected clients' interests, no viable alternatives were found.
"On this basis, it was decided that the appointment of Joint Provisional Liquidators was the most appropriate action to protect the immediate and ongoing interests of the clients of BlackBee Investments Limited," the Central Bank said.
The firm is subject to the Central Bank's Client Asset Requirements, which require that client assets related to regulated investments are clearly designated as such and are segregated from the assets of the firm in client asset accounts.
"All affected clients of the regulated entity will be contacted by the Joint Provisional Liquidators in the coming days to advise them of next steps in relation to their investments," the Central Bank said.
"The Joint Provisional Liquidators will undertake a full assessment of the firm to establish the current position of clients' investments."
