Mandelson ally facing High Court battle over debts
A leading Labour Party donor is battling to stave off the threat of bankruptcy in a court case over alleged debts owed to a former investor in his business.
Anthony Watson, the founder of fintech business The Bank of London and an ally of Lord Mandelson, is fighting a legal battle against US investment firm ForgeLight in a row over claims of monies owed, court records show.
Mr Watson has filed an application at the High Court against ForgeLight to set aside a statutory demand.
Such a demand is typically made by a creditor in an attempt to force an individual to pay a claimed debt and can be a precursor to bankruptcy proceedings.
The value of the claim could not be determined. However, ForgeLight was a substantial investor in The Bank of London, leading a funding round in 2021 that saw the fintech raise $90m (£67m).
Mr Watson – who has previously donated more than £500,000 to the Labour Party according to electoral records – was previously the chief executive of the challenger bank, which launched in 2021 and at one stage was valued at $1.1bn.
At the time, Mr Watson tapped Lord Mandelson, the former UK ambassador to the US, as a director along with other luminaries including Harvey Schwartz, chief executive of Carlyle Group.
However, the bank grappled with mounting losses under Mr Watson’s leadership. Accounts filed to Companies House revealed that in early 2024 it was facing a need for “immediate additional capital”.
Mr Watson stepped away from the bank in September 2024 and days later it was hit with a surprise winding-up petition.
The legal action from HMRC, among the most serious a creditor can take, took the company’s board unawares.
It later said that the petition was down to an administrative error and it was ultimately withdrawn. Lord Mandelson left the company’s board in 2024, shortly after Mr Watson stepped down.
Since the turmoil, The Bank of London’s main investor, Mangrove Capital, has injected more than £57m into the business. Mr Watson no longer has any involvement in the company.
Mr Watson, a former Nike and Barclays executive, has been a major donor to the Labour Party for years.
A campaigner for LGBT rights, he has given more than £500,000 to Labour MPs including Peter Kyle, the Business Secretary, Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, and Yvette Cooper, the Foreign Secretary.
He has also given thousands of pounds to Dawn Butler, including paying for her to attend an awards event in Los Angeles in 2018, and is understood to remain close to the MP.
In 2021, Mr Watson said he had appointed Lord Mandelson to the company’s board due to his “enormously relevant experience”.