{"id":293596,"date":"2023-10-31T11:25:05","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T11:25:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=293596"},"modified":"2023-10-31T11:25:05","modified_gmt":"2023-10-31T11:25:05","slug":"cricket-counties-demand-answers-from-the-ecb-over-worthless-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/%d1%81ricket\/cricket-counties-demand-answers-from-the-ecb-over-worthless-fund\/","title":{"rendered":"Cricket counties demand answers from the ECB over worthless fund"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Cricket counties demand answers from the ECB over offshore &#8216;rainy day&#8217; insurance fund they poured millions into in 1993 which is now worthless<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Mail Sport can reveal the ECB has had millions stored away in offshore tax haven\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>All 18 first-class counties and MCC bought shares in Reigndei &#8216;rainy day&#8217; fund\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>But some clubs&#8217; portions of the fund are now valued at nil in annual accounts\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>County cricket clubs are to demand answers from the ECB after thousands of their shares in an offshore insurance company have allegedly been valued worthless.<\/p>\n<p>The governing body used the vast sums of money to set up Guernsey-based &#8216;rainy day&#8217; insurance company Reigndei Limited 30 years ago for clubs to receive pay-outs when matches are rained off.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>All 18 first-class counties and the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) each purchased 30,000 shares for \u00a328,500 in 1993.<\/p>\n<p>The National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA) purchased 15,000 shares for \u00a314,250.<\/p>\n<p>But a Mail Sport investigation has found that millions are sitting in the scheme, yet some clubs&#8217; portions are now valued at nil.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/31\/10\/77214677-12692561-image-a-1_1698749035923.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>An insurance fund worth millions set up by the ECB in Guernsey in 1993 to ensure counties received pay-outs for washed out matches has allegedly been valued as worthless\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/31\/10\/77214607-12692561-image-a-2_1698749097195.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Several counties are questioning the English Cricket Board over what happened to the money<\/p>\n<p>There is a surplus of around \u00a312million resulting from the difference between premiums and claims declared in the annual ECB audited accounts from 1997 to 2022.<\/p>\n<p>The shares are now thought to be worth up to \u00a320 each so If the ECB were to instead use a UK-based insurer, that could see Reigndei scrapped and a pay-out of up to \u00a3500,000 to each club.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The governing body strongly dispute the figure but would not give any further clarity.<\/p>\n<p>The scheme is governed by three directors, one of whom is the ECB chief financial officer Scott Smith.<\/p>\n<p>A Mail Sport investigation can reveal:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The ECB have had millions stored away in an offshore tax haven since 1993<\/li>\n<li>Kent, Gloucestershire and Sussex&#8217;s 30,000 shares each in Reigndei are today valued at nil, per their annual accounts<\/li>\n<li>It is unclear how the nil valuation has been arrived at<\/li>\n<li>Fourteen counties have no mention of the Guernsey scheme in their accounts<\/li>\n<li>The Reigndei accounts appear to not have been audited in 2015, arising from a resolution waiving the annual audit<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/31\/10\/77214687-12692561-image-a-9_1698749161890.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The Reigndei Limited insurance company was set up in 1993 so\u00a0clubs received pay-outs when their matches are rained off<\/p>\n<p>When approached by Mail Sport, the ECB refused multiple times to provide any accounts or figures which has further added to the confusion.<\/p>\n<p>One county chief executive said: &#8216;I&#8217;ve not had any briefing by the ECB or was aware at all of our shares in this insurance scheme. It&#8217;s strange, and I&#8217;ll be getting in touch (with the ECB).&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Another chief executive said: &#8216;We should know what is in these accounts. It would certainly be interesting to see what it (the insurance) would cost on a private insurance market.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>A county finance director said: &#8216;I can&#8217;t recall seeing the figures. I don&#8217;t know how much is in there.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Nottinghamshire&#8217;s 30,000 shares are valued at \u00a328,500, the same amount they invested in 1993.<\/p>\n<p>For Kent, Gloucestershire and Sussex, their portions have been valued at nil.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Gloucestershire&#8217;s account note states: &#8216;This investment has been carried at \u00a3nil value in the balance sheet for a number of years as the club is not expecting to derive any future benefit from it.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The Reigndei accounts can&#8217;t be publicly accessed due to Guernsey company laws, and there is no mention of the company in the other 14 counties&#8217; accounts who are all beneficial shareholders.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/31\/10\/77214713-12692561-image-a-10_1698749212454.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Several country executives are demanding Reigndei Limited&#8217;s accounts from the ECB<\/p>\n<p>Some counties are happy with the arrangements. However, others claim they have been left in the dark for decades in relation to the shares \u2014 having allegedly not received the latest Reigndei accounts \u2014 and have vowed to approach the ECB about the matter.<\/p>\n<p>Mail Sport understands a county CEO approached the ECB for the accounts and got them \u2014 but it took two months after their initial request.<\/p>\n<p>The county finance directors are given an annual presentation by the ECB on various matters, with Reigndei included. However, that has not alleviated confusion.<\/p>\n<p>Between 2009 and 2015, the ECB&#8217;s then finance director was also a director at the Guernsey company. A resolution dated December 31, 2014 in the Guernsey registry shows the annual audit was waived.<\/p>\n<p>And then in November 2018, the company went on to indefinitely cancel their annual AGM, according to the minutes of a meeting dated November 1, 2018.<\/p>\n<p>An ECB spokesman was approached for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/cricket\/article-12692561\/Cricket-counties-demand-answers-ECB-offshore-rainy-day-insurance-fund-poured-millions-1993-worthless.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Cricket counties demand answers from the ECB over offshore &#8216;rainy day&#8217; insurance fund they poured millions into in 1993 which is now worthless Mail Sport <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/%d1%81ricket\/cricket-counties-demand-answers-from-the-ecb-over-worthless-fund\/\" title=\"Cricket counties demand answers from the ECB over worthless fund\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293595,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cricket counties demand answers from the ECB over worthless fund - Sportstoft<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/\u0441ricket\/cricket-counties-demand-answers-from-the-ecb-over-worthless-fund\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cricket counties demand answers from the ECB over worthless fund - Sportstoft\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cricket counties demand answers from the ECB over offshore &#8216;rainy day&#8217; 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