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Financial Services UK
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September 05, 2024
FCA Boasts Accelerated Authorizations For Firms
The Financial Conduct Authority said Thursday in its 2023-2024 annual report that it has significantly improved its authorization process, but has missed some targets in relation to processing applications of payments firms.
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September 05, 2024
'Act Now' On Dashboard Prep, Pensions Watchdog Warns
Pension scheme trustees should "act now" to be ready for the long-awaited government project designed to connect workers with lost pots and avoid enforcement action for failing to meet their duties, The Pensions Regulator warned Thursday.
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September 05, 2024
Gov't Consults On Plans For Pension Market Consolidation
The U.K. government is seeking feedback on the potential benefits and risks for pension savers and the economy if the pension market becomes more consolidated with larger schemes managing more assets.
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September 05, 2024
Surge In Pension Deal Demand Expected In 2nd Half Of 2024
There is likely to be a record number of transactions in the U.K. pensions market in 2024, according to a study published Thursday by accounting giant PwC, despite what many have described as a slower start to the year.
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September 05, 2024
Visa Boosts Consumer Protection In Bank Transfers
Visa Inc. said Thursday that it is launching a new U.K. service that will provide a safer and more user-friendly way for consumers to make payments directly from their bank accounts.
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September 05, 2024
FRC Warns Against Misuse Of Offsetting Financial Data
Companies that record a gain which nullifies the effect of its entry into their balance sheets — a practice known as offsetting — have caused "material errors" in their financial statements, Britain's accounting watchdog said Thursday.
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September 05, 2024
CVC Raises €7.4B Of Capital In 1st Results After Listing
European private equity firm CVC Capital Partners PLC said Thursday that it has raised €7.4 billion ($8.2 billion) in fresh capital during the first six months of 2024 as it published its first set of results since its €2 billion flotation in Amsterdam.
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September 04, 2024
FCA Tells Banks To Protect Customers From Being Debanked
Banks must do more to ensure consumers are not being denied accounts unfairly, the Financial Conduct Authority said Wednesday.
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September 04, 2024
BNP Paribas Seeks To Move VietJet Litigation To UK
BNP Paribas SA has pushed to move a claim filed by VietJet Aviation to the English courts, arguing that disputes over their financial agreements with the Vietnamese low-cost airline belong in England, not Vietnam.
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September 04, 2024
Pension Pot Needs For 'Basic' Retirement Rose 60% In 3 Years
Pensioners need 60% more retirement savings to meet basic costs compared to just three years ago, according to a think tank's research published Wednesday.
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September 11, 2024
Hausfeld Snaps Up Litigation Pro From Covington In London
Hausfeld LLP has hired a partner from Covington & Burling LLP in London to boost its profile in commercial disputes, after its office in the U.K. capital recently underwent changes in leadership.
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September 04, 2024
Cap On Push-Payment Fraud Payouts To Plummet To £85K
The payments watchdog said Wednesday that it plans to cut the cap on compulsory reimbursement by companies of authorized push payment fraud from £415,000 ($546,000) to £85,000.
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September 04, 2024
Fraud, Scam Complaints Reach Highest-Ever Level
Fraud complaints in the U.K. reached a record high with 8,734 cases reported between April and June, according to data from the Financial Ombudsman Service published Wednesday.
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September 03, 2024
Tech Co. Accused Of Defrauding 'Plasma Reactor' Investor
A Chinese businessman and his company have sued a U.K. technology company claiming they were defrauded of nearly £2.9 million ($3.8 million) by the firm and its directors after being led under false pretenses into investing in the development of a so-called "plasma reactor."
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September 03, 2024
CMA Clears Tate & Lyle Sugar Biz Deal
Britain's competition authority said Tuesday it has now cleared Tate & Lyle's planned purchase of sugar producer Tereos' U.K. business, as the unit was at risk of shutting down without the deal, which would lead to reduced competition in the industry anyway.
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September 03, 2024
SFO Seizes Watches Worth £500K In £76M Fraud Probe
Serious Fraud Office investigators seized watches on Tuesday from a suspect arrested in a £76 million ($100 million) investment fraud probe into the collapse of a luxury care home provider in 2019.
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September 03, 2024
BBVA Gets UK Regulatory OK For €12B Bid For TSB Owner
Spanish lending giant BBVA said Tuesday the U.K.'s Prudential Regulation Authority has given the approval for it to indirectly acquire control of British-based TSB Bank PLC as part of its €12 billion ($13.3 billion) hostile takeover bid of rival Banco de Sabadell.
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September 03, 2024
Bahamian Bank Hit With $15M Claim Over Loan Deal Breach
The director of a U.S. biotech company has filed a $15 million legal claim against a Bahamian bank, as he accused it of improperly terminating a $3 million loan agreement because of several defaults.
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September 03, 2024
Half Of Women Unsure They Will Have Enough For Retirement
More than half of women in Britain do not believe they will have enough money to support their income in retirement, findings by an investment management company suggest, amid concerns over the gender pension gap.
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September 03, 2024
Pay To Play: The 2-Tier Legal Route For Crypto-Fraud Victims
More people are falling victim to cryptocurrency scams, but their options for recovering money are few and expensive, which creates a two-tier approach — one for those who have the means to pay lawyers and consultants and another for those who don't.
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September 03, 2024
Port Operator Disputes $2M Claim For Unpaid Fees
English port operator Freetown Terminal Holding has denied that it owes a Swiss consultancy $2 million in unpaid fees tied to shareholders' dividends, saying that their agreement had been terminated before the payouts were made.
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September 02, 2024
Simpson Thacher-Led Blackstone Inks €1B Property Deal
Blackstone Inc. is snapping up an 80% holding in a portfolio of European properties valued at approximately €1 billion ($1.1 billion), seller Burstone Group Ltd. said Monday, with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP advising the asset management giant.
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September 09, 2024
A&O Shearman Hires PE Pros From Sidley Austin In London
A&O Shearman LLP said Monday it has secured a double-hire from Sidley Austin LLP in London as the firm expands its global private equity practice.
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September 02, 2024
OFSI To Bring 1st Penalty For Sanctions Violation This Year
Britain's sanctions enforcer will bring the first penalty for breaching the banning rules later this year as the agency looks to crack down on Russian oligarchs whose assets have been frozen since the invasion of Ukraine, a senior Treasury official said Monday.
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September 02, 2024
Greensill, Gupta Deny Conspiracy In Zurich Insurance Row
Financier Lex Greensill and steel magnate Sanjeev Gupta have denied conspiring to deceive underwriters at insurance giant Zurich over allegedly fake debts, amid a $400 million court battle in London over trade credit insurance.
Expert Analysis
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Key Points Of BoE Response To Digital Pound Consultation
Lawyers at Hogan Lovells analyze the recent Bank of England and U.K. government response to a consultation on the launch of a digital pound, finding that the phased approach to evaluating the issues makes sense given the significant potential impact on the U.K. economy.
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Goldman Prosecution Delivers A Clear Sign Of FCA Strength
The recent successful prosecution of a former Goldman Sachs analyst for insider dealing and fraud is a reminder to regulated individuals that economic crime will never be tolerated, and that the Financial Conduct Authority is willing to bare its teeth in the exercise of its prosecutorial remit, says Doug Cherry at Fladgate.
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The Good, The Bad And The New Of The UK Sanctions Regime
Almost six years after the Sanctions and Money Laundering Act was introduced, the U.K. government has published a strategy paper that outlines its focus points and unveils potential changes to the regime, such as a new humanitarian exception for financial sanctions, highlighting the rapid transformation of the U.K. sanctions landscape, says Josef Rybacki at WilmerHale.
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A Look At Environment Agency's New Economic Crime Unit
Sophie Wood at Kingsley Napley explains how the Environment Agency’s newly established Economic Crime Unit will pursue criminal money flows from environmental offenses, and discusses the unit’s civil powers, including the ability to administer account freezing and forfeiture orders, says Sophie Wood at Kingsley Napley.
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Opinion
UK Whistleblowers Flock To The US For Good Reason
The U.K. Serious Fraud Office director recently brought renewed attention to the differences between the U.K. and U.S. whistleblower regimes — differences that may make reporting to U.S. agencies a better and safer option for U.K. whistleblowers, and show why U.K. whistleblower laws need to be improved, say Benjamin Calitri and Kate Reeves at Kohn Kohn.
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4 Legal Privilege Lessons From Dechert Disclosure Ruling
The Court of Appeal's recent decision in Al Sadeq v. Dechert LLP, finding that evidence may have been incorrectly withheld, provides welcome clarification of the scope of legal professional privilege, including the application of the iniquity exception, says Tim Knight at Travers Smith.
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BT Case May Shape UK Class Action Landscape
The first opt-out collective action trial commenced in Le Patourel v. BT in the U.K. Competition Appeal Tribunal last month, regarding BT's abuse of dominance by overcharging millions of customers, will likely provide clarification on damages and funder returns in collective actions, which could significantly affect the class action regime, say lawyers at RPC.
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Key Points From EC Economic Security Screening Initiatives
Lawyers at Herbert Smith analyze the European Commission's five recently announced initiatives aimed at de-risking the EU's trade and investment links with third countries, including the implementation of mandatory screening mechanisms and extending coverage to investments made by EU companies that are controlled subsidiaries of non-EU investors.
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Following The Road Map Toward Quantum Security
With the Financial Conduct Authority’s recent publication of a white paper on a quantum-secure financial sector, firms should begin to consider the quantum transition early — before the process is driven by regulatory obligations — with the goal of developing a cybersecurity architecture that is agile while also allowing for quantum security, say lawyers at Cleary.
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Why EU Ruling On Beneficial Ownership May Affect The UK
Following the EU judgment in Sovim v. Luxembourg that public access to beneficial ownership information conflicts with data protection rights, several British overseas territories and dependencies have recently reversed their commitment to introduce unrestricted access, and challenges to the U.K.’s liberal stance may be on the cards, says Rupert Cullen at Allectus Law.
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Key Changes In FRC Code Aim To Promote Good Governance
The focus of the recently published Financial Reporting Council Corporate Governance Code on risk management and internal controls is to ensure the competitiveness of the U.K. listing regime while not compromising on governance standards, and issuers may wish to consider updating their policies in order to follow best practice, say lawyers at Debevoise.
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Ruling In FCA Case Offers Tips On Flexible Work Requests
In Wilson v. Financial Conduct Authority, the Employment Tribunal recently found that the regulator's rejection of a remote work request was justified, highlighting for employers factors that affect flexible work request outcomes, while emphasizing that individual inquiries should be considered on the specific facts, say Frances Rollin, Ella Tunnell and Kerry Garcia at Stevens & Bolton.
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Breaking Down The New UK Pension Funding Regs
Recently published U.K. pension regulations, proposing major changes to funding and investing in defined benefit pension schemes, raise implementation considerations for trustees, including the importance of the employer covenant, say Charles Magoffin and Elizabeth Bullock at Freshfields.
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Predicting DeFi Regulations At Home And Abroad In 2024
Though decentralized finance has advocates on both sides of the Atlantic in figures like U.S. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce and U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, DeFi in 2024 seems likely to be folded into existing regulatory frameworks in the U.K. and EU, while anti-crypto scrutiny may discourage DeFi’s growth in the U.S., say Daniel Csefalvay and Eric Martin at BCLP.
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Consultation Docs Can Help EU Firms Prep For Crypto Regs
Firms providing crypto services should note two recent papers from the European Securities and Markets Authority defining proposals on reverse solicitation and financial instrument classification that will be critical to clarifying the scope of the regulatory framework under the impending Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, say lawyers at Hogan Lovells.