J&E Davy

Background to Davy Davy is authorised as an investment firm under the European Union (Markets in Financial Instruments) Regulations 2017. Davy is Ireland’s largest stockbroker and wealth manager, with approximately 48,000 active clients and €8.5bn assets under management. The Transaction In 2014, the Client opened an execution only account1 with Davy for the purposes of carrying out the Transaction and transferred bonds into Davy. The Consortium subsequently entered 1 This a type of client account, where the client provides instructions to buy or sell securities, without the provision of any investment advice by the investment firm. into an agreement with the Client to advance a loan to settle debt secured on the bonds and to buy the bonds from the Client at an agreed price. Davy took no steps to ensure that the Client was aware that the Consortium was comprised of Davy employees. No written disclosure was made to that effect. While Davy employees are permitted to trade on their own accounts, they are required to do so on a designated system (System A) that is monitored by Davy Compliance. An account specifically for the Transaction was opened by a member of the Committee on Davy’s system for institutional clients (System B), a system that the Committee knew or ought to have known was not monitored by Davy Compliance. The Transaction involved an off-market transfer.2 Following instructions, Davy transferred the bonds internally from the Client’s account to the Consortium’s account on System B. A payment was made by Davy, from Davy funds, on behalf of the Committee.