Interest
45.The final issue relates to the appropriate rate of interest that Nuby should pay on the sums found due on the account. In this regard, Bei Yu argues that the rate should be 2.5% to 2.75% over Bank of England Base rate2 whilst Nuby asserts that the rate should be the base rate only. 46.The relevant principles with regard to interest were set out in Carrasco v Johnson [2018] EWCA Civ 87 at [17] where, having reviewed the authorities, Hamblen LJ stated that:17. The guidance to be derived from these cases includes the following:(1) Interest is awarded to compensate claimants for being kept out of money which ought to have been paid to them rather than as compensation for damage done or to deprive defendants of profit they may have made from the use of the money.(2) This is a question to be approached broadly. The court will consider the position of persons with the claimants' general attributes, but will not have regard to claimants' particular attributes or any special position in which they may have been.(3) In relation to commercial claimants the general presumption will be that they would have borrowed less and so the court will have regard to the rate at which persons with the general attributes of the claimant could have borrowed. This is likely to be a percentage over base rate and may be higher for small businesses than for first class borrowers.(4) In relation to personal injury claimants the general presumption will be that the appropriate rate of interest is the investment rate.(5) Many claimants will not fall clearly into a category of those who would have borrowed or those who would have put money on deposit and a fair rate for them may often fall somewhere between those two rates.47.I also note that at [19] and [25], Hamblen LJ emphasised that the court has a broad discretion in relation to an award of interest.48.Applying these principles, I have concluded that this is a case where Nuby is correct and that interest should be awarded at the base rate only. At paragraphs 28 and 29 of its Points of Defence, Nuby expressly pleaded that the base rate was appropriate given that savings are earning negligible interest and that Bei Yu had not set out any case as regards why a rate based on the cost of its borrowing would be appropriate. That remained the position at trial and no evidence was adduced by Bei Yu that would assist (even on a “broad brush” basis) in determining the appropriate rate of interest in this case. In my judgment, given that the issue had been clearly raised in the pleadings, Bei Yu is not entitled simply to rely on the general presumption referred to in Carrasco at paragraph 17(3) (see above) and it would not be appropriate to order interest to be paid at the rate Bei Yu might have had to pay to borrow.