Barlow Clowes sold 'gilt' funds to 18,000 savers and was wound up owing £190 million
Barlow Clowes International · Investment management (private)
The case in brief
Visible before detection
Checks that could have surfaced it, on hindsight
End-use tracing of funds
Would have traced client money into the founder's spending.
Can mislead when: Kubr sees only the company's own accounts. Once money reaches a third party's bank, Kubr can flag the payee but cannot see the next hop without that party's consent.
Third-party confirmation
Would have confirmed gilt holdings with custodians.
Can mislead when: Counterparties can collude or ignore requests. A non-response is logged as a gap, never as a pass.
Regulatory & litigation records
Would have found regulator concerns.
Can mislead when: Court records lag and name spellings vary. A clean record can mean the problem has not reached court yet.
Where Kubr services would have helped
Borrower monitor
Offered in India- C6 Would have traced client money into the founder's spending.
- C8 Would have found regulator concerns.
Verified Snapshot
Offered in India- C8 Would have found regulator concerns.
Legal diligence support
Offered in India- C8 Would have found regulator concerns.
Promoter profiles
Offered in India- C8 Would have found regulator concerns.
Mapped from the checks each service runs. A hindsight reading of public records, not a promise that the failure would have been found.
Same pattern
A summary of public documents. It reports what the sources say. It is not Kubr's finding and not a statement of guilt.