Kroll appointed as liquidator of G-Rock
Gibraltar based internet banking platform G-Rock has been forced into liquidation, after losing its limited licensing. Having made a number of redundancies, professionals from Kroll will now complete the sale of the company’s remaining assets.
Located in Gibraltar, G-Rock is a financial services firm which trades under the name Golden Sand Bank. Since the company’s incorporation in 2015, it has focused on building a private banking and wealth management service via direct channels such as online and mobile banking platforms.
However, the firm has found itself restricted by red tape in the years since its foundation, only obtaining restricted licences in February 2019. It then preceded to test its systems on a family and friends’ basis with the company’s own funds, with no members of the public involved. After these successful live tests, the company achieved operational readiness for going public, but it failed to raise the required capital to roll out its product. This led to its directors relinquishing its limited licences, and as a result placed it into liquidation.
Andrew Stoneman of Kroll was appointed to oversee the process at G-Rock. According to a statement, he intends to find a buyer for the business and its assets as soon as possible, and believes there will be a market appetite present which should mean this is a rapid sale.
Stoneman said, “The Company has developed a unique proposition in the fintech space creating what it claims is the first all-in-one financial ecosystem bringing banking and wealth management together under one platform… While we have had to make a number of immediate redundancies on appointment, it is this banking platform, and its associated app and development team that we believe will be of huge interest to the market.”
Kroll is now a professional services firm which has nearly 5,000 professionals in 30 countries and territories around the world. Kroll’s Gibraltar office was started in January 2021 and Andrew Stoneman is the Managing Director of the local office based in Main Street.
Elsewhere, Duff & Phelps’ global brand is also shifting to the Kroll identity this year. The global consultancy specialises in valuation, M&A advisory, taxation and transfer pricing, risk, governance, and disputes, among others, and has opted to take on the branding of Kroll – a company it acquired in 2018 – meaning for much of the last six months it has gone by ‘Duff & Phelps, A Kroll Business.’
