Winemaker sued for allegedly acting as a bank
The prudential regulator is suing former winemaker Andrew Garrett, alleging that he engaged in unauthorised banking activities and used the word “bank” without the appropriate licence.
Mr Garrett’s businesses include Dynamic Capital Bank, Banque de Capital Dynamique, and Banca di Como.
Andrew Garrett in 2004. John Donegan
But the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority has alleged in Federal Court filings that he is “operating and marketing businesses in Australia that he describes as banks, despite not being authorised to carry on a banking business”.
“He has ignored a demand from APRA to stop referring to these businesses as ‘banks’ and cease carrying on any unauthorised banking business,” the prudential regulator said in a statement.
Dynamic Capital Bank’s website lists several locations in Asia, the United States and Europe with its Australian office listed in Hobart, Tasmania.
It is described as “a private investment and trading bank with a global reach under a banking licence granted by the Crown attorney-general”.
Mr Garrett was a well-known winemaker in South Australia. He stood trial in 2020 over alleged tax fraud and was convicted and fined after falsifying registrations on the public security register.
The Banking Act permits that only authorised deposit taking institutions licensed by APRA can refer to themselves as banks and their activities as banking. Deposits at these institutions also benefit from the government’s financial claims scheme, which protects up to $250,000 per account holder.
Deputy chairman Margaret Cole said in a statement that APRA urged consumers to do their research before handing money over to unfamiliar businesses describing themselves as banks.
More to come
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