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Financial Services UK
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August 01, 2024
Watchdog Names Banks Reimbursing Few APP frauds
The Payment Systems Regulator found Thursday that banking groups varied widely in how far they reimbursed victims of authorized push payment fraud, with AIB Group, Danske Bank and Monzo making the lowest payouts in its 2023 performance report.
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August 01, 2024
Italy's Banca Generali Beats Credit Note Issuer's Appeal
A London appeals court has ruled an Italian bank can remove and replace a special purpose vehicle's financial agents working on a series of securities transactions that went south, without needing the SPV's consent.
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August 01, 2024
Early Pension Dips Raise Long-Term Concerns, Insurer Says
Pensions insurer Just Group has said official government statistics showing that seven in 10 people taking flexible payments from their pensions are younger than 65, raising questions about the sustainability of retirement savings in later life.
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August 01, 2024
Tchenguiz Can't Dodge £8M IG Index Spread Betting Debt
Real estate investor Robert Tchenguiz has to repay an investment platform a spread-betting debt of £8 million ($10.2 million) after a court ruled Thursday that the company had correctly characterized him as a professional investor.
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August 01, 2024
Accounting Standards Setter Eyes Better Climate Reporting
A global accounting standards setter has proposed "new illustrative examples" to improve how companies report climate change-related uncertainty and other factors in their financial statements.
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August 01, 2024
Barclays Plans £750M Buyback As Profits Beat Estimates
Barclays PLC said Thursday that it will reward shareholders with a shares buyback of up to £750 million ($957 million) as it announced results for the first six months of 2024 that beat the expectations of analysts.
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July 31, 2024
HSBC Says HUD Has Closed Fair Lending Probe
HSBC's U.S. banking arm said it is no longer facing a multicity fair lending investigation from federal housing authorities after an outside complaint that prompted the probe was withdrawn.
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July 31, 2024
FCA Can't Avoid Paying Julius Baer Bankers' Legal Costs
Britain's financial watchdog lost its appeal to avoid paying part of the legal costs for two former employees of Swiss bank Julius Baer accused of acting recklessly and lacking integrity with specific foreign exchange transactions.
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July 31, 2024
Indian Businessman Loses Extradition Over $32M Loan Fraud
An Indian businessman accused of defrauding 28.6 million Swiss francs ($32.5 million) from companies in an advance fee fraud scheme lost his chance to challenge the decision to extradite him from the U.K. on Wednesday after a London judge ruled that he could not mount a double jeopardy defense.
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July 31, 2024
Dutch Regulators OK Freshfields-Guided Asset Exchange
A Dutch digital asset exchange is touting itself as the first widely accessible and regulated crypto derivatives exchange in Europe after receiving a license from the government of the Netherlands, aided by the guidance of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, the firm has announced.
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July 31, 2024
Retired Couple Can't Duck Ex-Solicitor's Forex Deceit Win
A London appellate court ruled Wednesday that a financial advisor and his wife cannot escape liability to compensate a former lawyer over £500,000 ($642,135), after the appellate judge found they were partners in a now-defunct foreign exchange trading scheme.
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July 31, 2024
DMH Stallard Adds Tax Atty To London Practice
DMH Stallard LLP hired a tax attorney for its London office who spent more than a decade at HM Revenue & Customs working on compliance and policy, according to a news release.
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July 31, 2024
SocGen To Invest €250M In Energy Transition Biz
French-based multinational financial services company Societe Generale said Wednesday that it has agreed to invest €250 million ($271 million) to acquire 75% of alternative asset management company Reed Management SAS as part of its strategy to invest in emerging energy transition companies.
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July 31, 2024
SFO Eyes Potential £237M Legal Bill For ENRC Misconduct
The Serious Fraud Office has registered a potential £237.7 million ($305 million) payment to ENRC for damages over findings that its officers encouraged a former partner at Dechert LLP to divulge confidential information about alleged corruption at the Kazakh miner.
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July 31, 2024
Budget Cuts 'Jeopardize' Pension Portals, Aegon Warns
The Labour government's decision to cut £50 million ($64 million) from its communication and marketing budget for the next two years could jeopardize the successful rollout of the long-delayed pensions portal program, provider Aegon has warned.
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July 31, 2024
Holding Co. Can't Dodge Liability In IP Misrepresentation Feud
A London court has rejected a holding company's bid for a declaration that a cashpoint software business it sold in 2020 owns a disputed set of intellectual property, dashing the company's hopes of shielding itself from potential liability for other shareholders' alleged misrepresentations during the sale.
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July 31, 2024
Gov't Plans Backstop Legislation To Tackle Audit Backlog
The new Labour government said Wednesday it is preparing legislation to introduce a statutory backstop as the U.K. faces a growing backlog of audits of local authorities.
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July 31, 2024
FCA Maintains Restrictions On London Stone Securities
The Financial Conduct Authority said Wednesday that it will continue to restrict London Stone Securities, preventing the wealth manager from conducting any regulated activities because of serious concerns that it is not delivering good results for clients.
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July 31, 2024
Aussie Bank ANZ Acquires Suncorp Unit For $3.2B
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. said Wednesday that it has acquired Suncorp Bank for approximately 4.9 billion Australian dollars ($3.2 billion), two years after it signed the deal.
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July 31, 2024
Pension Plans Do Minimum ESG Compliance, Watchdog Says
Too many retirement savings plans attain only minimum compliance with environmental, social and governance standards, The Pensions Regulator has said, and urged them to improve their approach.
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July 31, 2024
HSBC Unveils $3B Buyback As Profits Remain Stable
Banking heavyweight HSBC said Wednesday that it will line shareholders' pockets with as much as $3 billion after reporting stable profits for the first half of the year in outgoing chief executive Noel Quinn's final earnings report.
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July 30, 2024
Consumers Can Appeal Some Blocked UK Mastercard Claims
The United Kingdom's specialty antitrust court gave the go-ahead Tuesday for a partial appeal of its June decision scrubbing as time-barred a swath of claims from a £10 billion ($12.7 billion) class action against Mastercard, while concluding some grounds of appeal have no "real prospect of success."
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July 30, 2024
UK Healthcare Ex-Directors Banned For £30M In Unpaid Taxes
Two former directors of a defunct U.K. healthcare company are banned from holding executive positions at any business after failing to pay more than £30 million ($38.5 million) in taxes, the government's insolvency agency said Tuesday.
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August 06, 2024
WFW Partner Moves To Dubai To Join Ship Finance Offering
Assets and structured finance partner Emily Widdrington of Watson Farley & Williams LLP is relocating to Dubai from London.
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July 30, 2024
NCA Ducks Litigation Risk In 1st Seizure Of Sanctioned Assets
The decision by the National Crime Agency to secure the forfeiture of the assets of a sanctioned Russian oligarch is a pragmatic victory that avoids the risk of setting a damaging legal precedent, lawyers say.
Expert Analysis
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FCA 'De-Banking' Clampdown May Need Gov't Backing
The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority’s recent clampdown on unfair bank account closures will give customers greater transparency, but with terms usually skewed in the bank’s favor, it is a policy matter for the government to enact further protections for businesses and consumers, say Stephen Rosen and Jean-Martin Louw at Collyer Bristow.
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UK Securitization Reform Opts For Modest Approach, For Now
Recently published consultation papers from the U.K. Prudential Regulation and Financial Conduct Authorities on new securitization rules mainly restate retained EU law, but there are some targeted adjustments being proposed and further divergence is to be expected, say Alix Prentice and Assia Damianova at Cadwalader.
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Examining PayPal's Venture Into The Stablecoin Market
PayPal’s recent release of a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar may represent a groundbreaking innovation or could fail as others have before it, and policymakers in the U.K. and the EU will be watching the impact of this new crypto token with a keen eye, say Ben Lee and Dion Seymour at Andersen.
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High Court Dechert Ruling Offers Litigation Privilege Lessons
While the recent High Court ruling in Al Sadeq v. Dechert LLP, which concerned torture conspiracy allegations against the firm, held that litigation privilege can be claimed by a nonparty to proceedings, the exact boundaries of privilege aren't always clear-cut and may necessitate analyzing the underlying principles, says Scott Speirs at Norton Rose.
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FCA Consumer Duty May Pose Enforcement Challenges
The new U.K. Financial Conduct Authority consumer duty sets higher standards of customer protection and transparency for financial services firms, but given the myriad products available across the sector, policing the regulations is going to be a challenging task, says Alessio Ianiello at Keller Postman.
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UK Insolvency Reform Review Shows Measures Are Working
The U.K. Insolvency Service's recently published review of legislative reforms to the corporate insolvency regime demonstrates that despite being underutilized, the measures have been shown to help viable companies survive, and with the current difficult economic environment, will likely be an important aspect of organizational restructuring going forward, says Kirsten Fulton-Fleming at Taylor Wessing.
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More UK Collective Actions On The Horizon After Forex Ruling
A U.K. appeals court's recent decision in Forex case Evans v. Barclays is likely to significantly widen the scope of opt-out collective proceedings that can be brought, paving the way for more class actions by prospective claimants who have previously been unable to bring individual claims, say Robin Henry and Tamara Davis at Collyer Bristow.
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FCA Listing Reform Proposals Aim To Modernize UK Markets
The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority's recent proposals to reform listing rules will enhance equities while retaining protections and high governance standards, and will also make the capital markets work more efficiently and competitively with other global markets, say lawyers at Greenberg Traurig.
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Takeaways From ICO's Action In NatWest Privacy Dispute
The U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office's latest intervention in the Nigel Farage NatWest Bank dispute highlights the importance of the legal responsibilities of all data processors in possession of sensitive information, and is a reminder that upholding bank customers' privacy rights is paramount, says James Kelliher at Keller Postman.
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How The OECD Global Tax Proposal Could Affect M&A
Following agreement on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Pillar Two proposal to introduce a global minimum tax, domestic implementation is expected to have a significant impact on international M&A transactions, with financial modeling, deal structuring, risk allocation and joint venture arrangements likely to be affected, say lawyers at Freshfields.
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How Russia Sanctions May Complicate Contract Obligations
Against the backdrop of recent comprehensive sanctions against Russia and Belarus, a review of recent U.K. case law clarifies that certain force majeure clauses likely cover trade sanctions, and that future litigation will further develop the scope of force majeure and frustration in the context of sanctions, says Frances Jenkins at Quillon Law.
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New Guidance Offers Clarity For Charities On ESG Investing
The need for charities to understand investing in line with environmental, social and governance aspirations has never been more pressing, and recently updated U.K. Charity Commission guidance should give trustees confidence to make decisions that are right for their organization, says Robert Nieri at Shoosmiths.
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US And EU Poised For Closer Ties In Tech Financial Market
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.
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FCA Case Failures Highlight Value Of Robust Investigation
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.
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UK Shares-Tax Proposals Offer Long-Awaited Modernization
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.