​The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) notes that, the DIFC Courts today appointed Mr Philip Stephen Bowers and Mr Neville Barry Kahn of Deloitte LLP as joint provisional liquidators of ES Bankers (Dubai) Limited (ESBD).

The DFSA's application to the Court for the above appointments was based on a submission of the Manager of ESBD attesting that the bank is no longer able to meet its obligations and continue as a going concern.

The primary function of the joint provisional liquidators is to protect ESBD's assets and those of its clients in the period until a formal winding-up hearing. A hearing of the DFSA's petition to appoint a liquidator to wind up ESBD will be heard on Sunday 19 October 2014. For further details please refer to the DIFC Courts website.

On 18 September the DFSA imposed a restriction under the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Regulatory Law restricting ESBD from taking or paying deposits and to require the firm to maintain and preserve its assets. A DFSA Statement of 18 September noted that the failure of a Swiss-domiciled bank in the Espirito Santo Group, Banque Privee Espirito Santo (BPES), to honour contractual commitments to ESBD and to repay deposits owed to ESBD, had seriously compromised ESBD's operations and solvency.

BPES is now subject to liquidation proceedings in Switzerland. Other members of the Espirito Santo Group are also in some form of external administration.

As a DIFC bank, ESBD is not permitted to deal with retail clients, nor to accept deposits from UAE clients. Depositors in ESBD were informed of the freezing of deposits and will be notified of today's Court decision.

ESBD is a bank operating in the DIFC, licensed by the DFSA. It is part of the Espirito Santo Group of companies, and is a subsidiary of Espirito Santo Financial Group S.A. (ESFG), which is domiciled in Luxembourg.