The Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) has issued a prohibition order against Joakim Samuelsson following findings of regulatory breaches and conduct failures in his role as a director, officer and controller of Custodian Life Limited, a Bermuda-registered insurer. The order, made under section 32H of the Insurance Act 1978 and published on 27 March 2026, prohibits him indefinitely from acting as a controller, director, officer, chief executive, senior executive or associate of any entity or person registered under the Act. In its Decision Notice, the BMA concluded that Mr Samuelsson failed to conduct and manage Custodian’s business prudently and showed a lack of competence, diligence and soundness of judgment, resulting in numerous and longstanding breaches of the Act and regulatory standards. The findings cited, among other matters, improper trading practices including undisclosed shorting of policyholder-directed investments, an imprudent segregation model that did not meaningfully protect policyholder assets, inaccurate and misleading disclosures on the funding and ring-fencing of segregated accounts, failures to cooperate with an investigator, serious outsourcing and records-control failures that impeded regulatory oversight and the work of joint provisional liquidators, failures to cooperate with those liquidators, and non-compliance with Supreme Court of Bermuda orders that led to contempt findings. The decision followed a Warning Notice issued on 26 November 2025 and consideration of written representations from Mr Samuelsson, after which the BMA confirmed the proposed action. Custodian entered provisional liquidation in November 2023 and was ordered to be wound up on 3 October 2025, with the BMA concluding Mr Samuelsson’s conduct was a direct cause of the breaches and liquidation; he had appeal rights to an Appeal Tribunal but did not appeal.

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