05/04/2024

Quincecare, agency and conflict of laws: what law do we look to?

In this article* Matthew McGhee sets out to identify, by means of a case study, what sort of issues might arise from the Quincecare duty in relation to the banker–customer relationship. Matthew then seeks to explain what English conflict of laws rules would find to be the governing law of the various claims.

The key takeaways are as follows:

• Inter-related agency relationships can be in play where a company is being defrauded by someone who might usually be trusted to act in the company’s interests.
• When considering the law applicable to the relevant agency relationships, the conclusion can in some respects be unsatisfactory, as illustrated in the case study.
• A bank that improperly executes a payment on dishonest instructions would normally have a claim against the agent governed by the law of the agent’s habitual residence, though there would be strong grounds to argue that the “contract” between the agent and the bank was manifestly more closely connected with the law which governs the banker–customer relationship.

 

Read the full article.

*Please note that this article was first published in the March issue of  Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law.