New Zealand’s Serious Fraud Office and the Reserve Bank have begun investigations into CBL Insurance and its related entities.

The two say they are co-operating, while the Reserve Bank is also working with the Financial Markets Authority’s investigation into market conduct and disclosure issues around CBL Corporation, which owns CBL Insurance.

CBL Corporation has been in voluntary administration and CBL Insurance in court-imposed interim liquidation since February. Their financial troubles can be traced to the collapse of Gibraltar-based Elite Insurance, which wrote most of CBL’s European business until last year, and funding concerns around their French operations.

The Reserve Bank, which applied to the High Court to have CBL Insurance placed in interim liquidation, has said the insurer made a $NZ55 million ($75 million) payment to overseas entities in breach of regulations. CBL Insurance also told the central bank it continued to operate despite being below the minimum regulatory solvency level.