We have today leaned that a number of bank accounts of Trilogy Bank have been frozen. The bank has referred customers to a company called Solaris which itself has little information and ominously cannot even say how long funds have will be held for. There are limited grounds on which a bank account can be frozen. This may be due to technical issues (which should be resolved fairly quickly) or for legal grounds under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 under which banks may freeze an account if they have reasonable evidence that the funds in the account are the result of unlawful activity such as money laundering. The report that a large number of accounts have been frozen does suggest however that there are concerns with Trilogy itself as opposed to its individual customers’ accounts. The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 provides a legal framework for banks in the UK and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England (BoE) have regulatory responsibilities towards banks. We are already acting for a number of customers to get to the bottom of the issues to get their accounts unfrozen. If you require urgent and confidential advice please call Winston Brown on 0208858 5996 or 07894219314 or email us on winston.brown@brownnadcosolicitors.co.uk