Law enforcers had been sniffing around Sir Allen since the late 1990s, after he lost his banking licence in Montserrat, another Caribbean island.

ECONOMIST: Financial fraud

For Montserrat, a tiny British island in the Caribbean, not even a devastating hurricane and multiple volcanic eruptions have proved enough to win unconditional assistance from its imperial rulers in Whitehall.

ECONOMIST: Montserrat: Too little, too late | The

The Montserrat Building Society holds most of the island's home loans.

ECONOMIST: Erupting risks