Michael Walsh KC

Michael has extensive experience in domestic and cross-border banking disputes, including regulated and unregulated lending, enforcement of securities, and receivership and possession litigation. He is frequently instructed where enforcement is contested, priorities are disputed, or the underlying lending arrangements are complex.

Recent Cases

• SG Kleinwort Hambros Bank Limited v Gill – Acting for a private bank in possession and enforcement proceedings arising from default under secured lending. The borrowers sought to restrain enforcement by advancing a proposed redemption action, including an asserted right to redeem the loan by tendering proceeds said to derive from cryptocurrency holdings. The dispute raised issues as to the validity of tender, the bank’s entitlement to refuse purported redemption, and the interaction between contractual repayment obligations and anti-money laundering requirements.
• Ultra-prime London property dispute – Advising a member of a Middle Eastern royal family in connection with the sale of an ultra-prime Central London property valued at approximately £25 million, involving contested mortgage enforcement and related applications for injunctive relief.
• Banque Havilland v Fiorentino – Acting for a private bank in possession and enforcement proceedings arising from default on a high-value loan secured against ultra-prime London residential property. The dispute concerned repayment of substantial mortgage arrears, proposed refinancing, and applications to delay enforcement, and resulted in the Court ordering possession of a Grade I-listed Regent’s Park property.
• Tich Limited v National Westminster Bank Plc – Acting in a banking dispute arising from authorised push-payment fraud, involving alleged failures in fraud controls and transaction processes.
• European bank mandate – Acting for a European bank in the recovery of a loan of approximately £20 million secured against assets located in the United Kingdom.
• Pitt & Others v Bodani – Acting in complex proceedings arising from an offshore financing structure, raising issues of security enforcement, undue influence and subrogation. The case settled during the trial.
• Menon & Menon v Pask & Goode – Acting in a landmark receivership case addressing possession proceedings and the application of statutory protections under the Administration of Justice Act.
• Arkin & Others v Marshall – Acting in complex mortgage and receivership litigation involving questions of priority, regulatory classification and enforcement. The proceedings settled before final determination.