Financial Services UK

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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. 

  • September 02, 2024

    Manolete Wins Nearly £1M Over Director's Breach Of Duties

    An insolvency litigation financing company has secured a victory worth £918,590 ($1.2 million) against the former director of Just Recruit Group Ltd. after a court found that he had breached his duties during the financial collapse of the business.

  • September 02, 2024

    Tribunal Backs FCA In Denying Ashraf Wealth Management

    A London Tribunal upheld on Monday the Financial Conduct Authority's decision to deny authorization to Ashraf Wealth Management Ltd., after the regulator concluded its founder should not carry out regulated activities unsupervised.

  • September 02, 2024

    William Fry Guides Ireland In AIB's €500M Buyback

    Allied Irish Banks said Monday that it plans to buy back €500 million ($550 million) of its shares from the Irish state to reduce its crisis-era bailout stake in the lender after it disclosed "a very strong first half" of the year.

  • September 02, 2024

    EU Asset Managers Seek Strong Governance On Data Feeds

    A trade body for European asset managers called on Monday for strong governance of providers of consolidated tapes, which set out prices and volumes of shares and bonds in bloc-wide feeds for investors.

  • August 30, 2024

    UK's Labour Gov't Urged To Raise Capital Gains Tax

    The Labour government is facing calls to raise the capital gains tax despite financial firms advising investors to sell off their assets or even leave the United Kingdom over the possible tax hike.

  • August 30, 2024

    Couple Accused Of £29B Fraud Forced To Disclose Wealth

    A Chinese couple could be forced to divulge how they built a multimillion-pound property business in the U.K. after a London judge ruled Friday that investigators had reason to suspect their money came from an alleged £29 billion ($38 billion) banking fraud.

  • August 30, 2024

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    This past week in London has seen television property developer Kambiz Babaee hit with a fraud claim, a Bitcoin podcaster reignite a dispute with Australian computer scientist Craig Wright and football club owner Massimo Cellino's company file a claim against ClearBank. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • August 30, 2024

    Swiss Banks Face Legal Issues On Instant Payments

    The Swiss Banking Association has warned that the requirement for the largest banks to offer instant payments from August is raising challenges around legal requirements like verifying the recipient's identity and sanctions checks.

  • August 30, 2024

    Widow Alleges Stake To $3B Oligarch Fortune Is Made Up

    The widow and daughter of a Russian cement tycoon have argued that his family "invented" a business partnership agreement to rob them of inheritance, in the latest development of a fight over more than $3 billion in assets.

  • August 30, 2024

    Standard Life Named 'Safe Haven' For Defrauded Pensioners

    Insurer Standard Life has been appointed as a "safe haven" pension provider for members of retirement schemes that have lost out to fraud, the company said.

  • August 29, 2024

    Fight Against Dirty Money Should Target Lawyers, Report Says

    Britain's use of foreign aid to fund the fight against dirty money overseas falls short of what is needed, an anti-corruption charity warned Thursday, as it urged law enforcement authorities to take action against those who help perpetrators.

  • August 29, 2024

    Feds Say Ex-BigLaw Atty Can't Shake OneCoin Conviction

    Federal prosecutors have told the Second Circuit that former Locke Lord LLP partner Mark S. Scott has "greatly exaggerate[d]" the importance of testimony from a government witness, some of which was later shown to be perjury, in a bid to have his money laundering conviction reversed.

  • August 29, 2024

    Oil Execs Get 13 Years For $1.8B 1MDB Fraud

    Two former PetroSaudi executives have been sentenced at a Swiss court to a combined 13 years in prison for embezzling more than $1.8 billion from Malaysia's state-backed investment fund in what prosecutors said was one of the biggest frauds ever perpetrated.

  • August 29, 2024

    Pension Consolidator Would Be Useful, Broadstone Says

    Proposals put forward by the previous government to launch a public sector consolidator of retirement savings plans run by the pensions lifeboat fund would be a "welcome addition" to the market, Broadstone said Thursday.

  • August 29, 2024

    EU Warns That Greenwashing Risk Could Hit Investment

    The European Union's markets watchdog said Thursday in its latest risk monitoring report that greenwashing and related malpractices are undermining investor trust and the credibility of green finance.

Expert Analysis

  • US And EU Poised For Closer Ties In Tech Financial Market

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    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the European Commission are both concerned about the challenges posed by the increasing digitalization of financial products, such as the use of AI and new forms of credit, and by working together, the two regulators can share information and best practices, says Yulia Makarova at Cooley.

  • FCA Case Failures Highlight Value Of Robust Investigation

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    The recent U.K. upper tribunal judgment in Seiler, Whitestone and Raitzin v. The Financial Conduct Authority, criticizing the regulator for accepting a narrative advanced by the firm, makes clear that such admissions must not get in the way of a proper investigation to enable agencies to target the correct individuals, say Tom Bushnell and Olivia Dwan at Hickman & Rose.

  • UK Shares-Tax Proposals Offer Long-Awaited Modernization

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    The U.K. government's recent consultation on the introduction of a new tax on transactions in securities raises detailed legal and practical issues, but the prospect of a single digital stamp tax offering both streamlined legislation and administration will be welcomed, say Zoë Arnautov and Mark Sheiham at Simmons & Simmons.

  • Directors Should Beware Reinvigorated UK Insolvency Service

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    The recent lengthy disqualification of Carillion directors serves as a salutary lesson to executives on the level of third-party scrutiny to which their actions may be exposed, and a reminder that the directors’ fiduciary duty to creditors is paramount once a company is irretrievably insolvent, says Ben Drew at Fladgate.

  • The New Accountability Landscape For Financial Regulators

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    The preliminary-stage success of a group of U.K. lawmakers in a case against the Financial Conduct Authority highlights the significant hurdles for review of regulatory actions, but the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 creates additional visibility into the regulators' decision making, which may lead to an increase in judicial review activity, say attorneys at Cleary.

  • Director Responsibilities Amid Russian Asset Seizures

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    Following Russia's recent takeover of several companies, shareholders may argue that directors failed to properly guard the companies' assets and choose to bring derivative claims or unfair prejudice petitions, say lawyers at Collyer Bristow.

  • Investors Should Prepare For Possible EU Energy Treaty Exit

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    Following the European Commission’s recent call for the European Union and Euratom to withdraw from the Energy Charter Treaty, investors in the energy sector should assess the legal structure of their existing investments and consider restructuring to ensure adequate protections, says Philipp Kurek at Kirkland.

  • EU Raw Materials Initiative Vital For Sustainable Value Chains

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    The European Commission’s recent steps toward developing partnerships with the U.S. and Argentina to ensure a secure supply of critical raw materials are a welcome recognition of the importance of mining to the European Union's sustainable transition, say lawyers at Watson Farley.

  • UK Top Court Ruling Spells Uncertainty For Litigation Funders

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    The U.K. Supreme Court's recent decision in Paccar Inc. v. Competition Appeal Tribunal has called litigation funding agreements impermissible, causing astonishment in the legal industry and raising questions over how funders should now approach litigation, say Mohsin Patel at Factor Risk Management and Imran Benson at Hailsham Chambers.

  • Gender Diverse Boards May Reduce Corporate Fraud Risk

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    Following the recently proposed "failure to prevent fraud" offense, companies should focus on diversity in leadership as research shows that an increase in women's representation on boards is associated with a decreased probability of fraud, say Anoushka Warlow and Suzanne Gallagher at BCL Solicitors.

  • Trustees Should Take Caution After UK Pension Tap Plan

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    The U.K. government's recent plan to boost technology startups by tapping into pension sector funds may risk the hard-earned savings of members, so trustees need to be mindful of the proposals in light of their fiduciary duties, say Beth Brown and Riccardo Bruno at Arc Pensions.

  • Factors Driving Increased Litigation Against European Cos.

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    European government regulation and enforcement, economic inflation and litigation funding are driving an increase in litigation, especially class actions, against corporations in Europe, a trend that seems to be here to stay, says Henning Schaloske at Clyde & Co.

  • New UK Offense Will Help Law Firms Tighten AML Compliance

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    By allowing for larger fines and introducing a failure to prevent fraud offense, the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill, currently passing through Parliament, will further motivate law firms to improve their anti-money laundering compliance process, says Richard Simms at AMLCC.

  • What Venezuelan Gold Fight Means For UK One Voice Doctrine

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    The Court of Appeal's judgment in Deutsche Bank v. Central Bank of Venezuela clarifies the application of the "one voice" doctrine to foreign court judgments, highlighting that the reasoning depends on the recognition or nonrecognition of a head of state or government that is contrary to the U.K. government's position, say lawyers at Latham.

  • Report On UK Investment Act Offers Welcome Insights

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    The U.K. government's recent report on the National Security and Investment Act's first full year of operation is to be applauded for disclosing more information on the act's notification system than was required, enabling a better understanding of what has taken place and what the next year may hold, say Andrea Hamilton and Ajal Notowicz at Milbank.

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