The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal (CFA) has upheld that trustees are protected by anti-Bartlett clauses, meaning they have no overriding duty to supervise the management of an underlying company.
On 22 November 2019, the CFA allowed an appeal and overturned the decision in Zhang Hong Li and others v DBS Bank (Hong Kong) Limited and others [2019] HKCFA 45.
The unanimous ruling established that so-called anti-Bartlett clauses in the trust deed of a Jersey family trust exempted the trustees from any liability for losses incurred in transactions by the trust's underlying investment company.
This ruling overturne...
