The Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) was an international bank founded in 1972 by Agha Hasan Abedi, a Pakistani financier. The bank was registered in Luxembourg with head offices in Karachi and London. A decade after opening, BCCI had over 400 branches in 78 countries and assets in excess of US$20 billion, making it the seventh largest private bank in the world.
PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited is a multinational professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting firms, along with Deloitte, EY, and KPMG.
The London Inter-Bank Offered Rate was an interest rate average calculated from estimates submitted by the leading banks in London. Each bank estimates what it would be charged were it to borrow from other banks. It is the primary benchmark, along with the Euribor, for short-term interest rates around the world. Libor was phased out at the end of 2021, and market participants are being encouraged to transition to risk-free interest rates such as SOFR and SARON.
Visa Inc. is an American multinational payment card services corporation headquartered in San Francisco, California. It facilitates electronic funds transfers throughout the world, most commonly through Visa-branded credit cards, debit cards and prepaid cards. Visa is one of the world's most valuable companies.
HSBC Holdings plc is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business links to East Asia and a multinational footprint. It is the largest Europe-based bank by total assets, ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.919 trillion as of December 2023. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 trillion in assets under custody (AUC) and $4.9 trillion in assets under administration (AUA).
Dermot Desmond is an Irish businessman and financier. He is estimated to be worth €2.04 billion and is ranked by the Sunday Independent as the ninth-richest person in Ireland.
A sandstorm is a storm caused by strong wind and sand or dust.
The Cadbury Report, titled Financial Aspects of Corporate Governance, is a report issued by "The Committee on the Financial Aspects of Corporate Governance" chaired by Sir Adrian Cadbury, chairman of Cadbury, that sets out recommendations on the arrangement of company boards and accounting systems to mitigate corporate governance risks and failures.
Agha Hasan Abedi, was a Pakistani banker and convicted felon who founded Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) and saw its collapse after one of the biggest banking fraud scandals in history was unearthed. Before his death, he was convicted by the United Arab Emirates court of fraud and sentenced to eight years in prison. Abedi also founded United Bank Limited. Abedi underwent a heart transplant operation in 1988, and died of a heart attack on 5 August 1995 in Karachi.
Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is India's largest professional accounting body under the administrative control of Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India. It was established on 1 July 1949 as a statutory body under the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 enacted by the Parliament for promotion, development and regulation of the profession of Chartered Accountancy in India.
Ghaith Rashad Pharaon, was a Saudi fugitive financier and businessman who was founder of Attock Group, Attock Cement, and at one time an investor in the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), an international bank established by Pakistani financier Agha Hasan Abedi. He was described by Forbes magazine as once near a billionaire.
Robert Alan Altman was an American lawyer and video game executive. He worked as a lawyer in Washington, D.C., and was involved in a scandal surrounding the Bank of Credit and Commerce International. In 1999, he and Christopher Weaver founded ZeniMax Media as the parent holding company for Bethesda Softworks, a video game developer Weaver had founded earlier. Altman served as ZeniMax Media's chief executive officer and chairman until his death. He was also a member of the advisory board of the George Washington University Law School.
Société Générale S.A., colloquially known in English speaking countries as SocGen, is a French-based multinational financial services company founded in 1864, registered in downtown Paris and headquartered nearby in La Défense.
HBOS plc is a banking and insurance company in the United Kingdom, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lloyds Banking Group, having been taken over in January 2009. It was the holding company for Bank of Scotland plc, which operated the Bank of Scotland and Halifax brands in the UK, as well as HBOS Australia and HBOS Insurance & Investment Group Limited, the group's insurance division.
Lloyds Banking Group plc is a British financial institution formed through the acquisition of HBOS by Lloyds TSB in 2009. It is one of the UK's largest financial services organisations, with 30 million customers and 65,000 employees. Lloyds Bank was founded in 1765 but the wider Group's heritage extends over 320 years, dating back to the founding of the Bank of Scotland by the Parliament of Scotland in 1695.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom. It operates independently of the UK Government and is financed by charging fees to members of the financial services industry. The FCA regulates financial firms providing services to consumers and maintains the integrity of the financial markets in the United Kingdom.
Worldpay, Inc. is an American payment processing company and technology provider. In February 2024, it was separated from Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) to become an independent company once again. It is majority owned by private equity firm GTCR. It is headquartered in the greater Cincinnati, Ohio area. Worldpay, Inc., is the largest U.S. merchant acquirer ranked by general-purpose transaction volume.
Barclays plc is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services.
Abbas Kasimali Gokal is a Pakistani businessman, who was chairman of the Gulf Shipping Lines, once the largest shipping empire in the world. Gokal was convicted of fraud in May 1997 and sentenced to 14 years in prison. He was charged with defrauding the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) of US$1.2 billion and was the world's biggest single fraudster at the time. His company, the Gulf Group, was the BCCI's single largest borrower.
CenTrust Bank, A State Savings Bank was an American savings and loan association based in Miami, Florida that failed in 1990. Its failure in 1990 was one of the largest and costliest failures of the savings and loan crisis.
