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Financial Services UK
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May 29, 2024
EU Unveils Office To Police New Artificial Intelligence Law
The European Union's executive arm on Wednesday unveiled details of its new AI Office to police compliance with the newly launched Artificial Intelligence Act across member states, including financial services.
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May 29, 2024
Goldman Sachs Raises Over $20B For Direct Lending Strategy
Goldman Sachs Alternatives, advised by Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP, revealed Wednesday that it clinched its latest senior direct lending fund after securing $13.1 billion from investors, and that together with other money raised for associated vehicles it has over $20 billion in fresh capital to put toward its direct lending strategy.
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May 29, 2024
Italian Airline's Chair Hits Back At €50M 'Revenge' Claim
The chair of Aeroitalia has urged a London court to throw out a €50 million ($54 million) claim over the Italian airline, arguing he had not agreed to transfer most of his stake in the business to a company claiming to have links with aviation magnate German Efromovich.
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May 29, 2024
HSF Guides £204M Pension Deal For Telcoms Biz Arqiva
Pension Insurance Corporation PLC said Wednesday it has completed a £204 million ($259.8 million) full buy-in of a retirement savings plan sponsored by telecommunications company Arqiva Ltd., in a deal guided by Herbert Smith Freehills LLP.
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May 29, 2024
Clifford Chance Guides L&G's £20M Nortel Pension Buyout
The U.K. pension liabilities of defunct Canadian telecom company Nortel Networks Corp., worth £2.5 billion ($3.2 billion), have now been offloaded fully to Legal & General Assurance Society Ltd., the insurer said Tuesday, after a final transaction steered by Travers Smith LLP, Pinsent Masons LLP, Hogan Lovells and Clifford Chance LLP.
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May 29, 2024
FCA Warns Firms To Prepare Better For Disrupted Operations
The Financial Conduct Authority has warned businesses that some are taking the wrong approach to maintaining operation of important services during a crisis, such as after a cyberattack.
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May 29, 2024
Three EU Countries Urge Tax Reform To Boost Investment
Three smaller European Union countries, Austria, Croatia and Slovenia, are backing tax reforms in the 27-country bloc to support investment in capital markets, including exemptions from capital gains tax for long-term retail investment products, according to a joint declaration.
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May 29, 2024
Pensions Provider Sells Biz Before Entering Administration
A provider of self-invested personal pensions has sold its retirement savings business before it entered administration when its directors expressed concerns over its financial liabilities caused by some of the investments it had allowed.
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May 28, 2024
Autonomy Founder Says HP 'Panicked,' Tried To Unwind Deal
Autonomy founder Michael Lynch testified Tuesday in a California federal criminal trial over claims he conned HP into overpaying for his company that HP's board "panicked" after news of the acquisition leaked and HP's stock dropped 20%, that HP fired its CEO and that it attempted to back out of the deal.
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May 28, 2024
RBS, Lloyds Bank, Others Ink $1.9M Libor Settlement
A group of plaintiffs in the yearslong suit alleging several big banks manipulated the London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor, have reached a $1.9 million settlement with the Royal Banks of Scotland, Lloyds Bank and others, bringing the total settlement recovery amount to more than $780 million.
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May 28, 2024
Property Firm Fined £12K For Anti-Money Laundering Failures
The Solicitors Regulation Authority fined a London property solicitors £12,777 ($16,300) after the firm carried out transactions for partners and their family members without appropriate anti-money laundering policies.
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May 28, 2024
Labour Party Rules Out Any Additional Tax Rises
The Labour Party on Tuesday ruled out introducing any more tax rises in addition to measures it has already announced in the event it wins the July 4 general election.
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May 28, 2024
Aviva Completes £130M Pension Deal With Telereal
A property investment company has offloaded £130 million ($166 million) of its pension liabilities to Aviva PLC, the insurer said Tuesday.
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May 28, 2024
EU Investment Firms Told To Upgrade Marketing Reports
The European Union's financial markets regulator has said that investment firms should improve their marketing disclosures to investors, calling on national watchdogs to act against rule-breakers.
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May 28, 2024
Pension Deals Market Working For Small Providers, Aon Says
The deal market for small pension schemes looking to offload their liabilities to insurers is working despite fears that such plans are being crowded out of the market, Aon said Tuesday.
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May 28, 2024
Israeli Aquaculture Firm Sued Over $21M Unpaid Settlement
An asset management firm based in the Cayman Islands is seeking more than $21 million from an Israeli aquaculture company over an allegedly unpaid settlement agreement intended to resolve earlier arbitration proceedings.
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May 28, 2024
NatWest Unaware Of Former Trader's Asperger's Diagnosis
A former NatWest trader has lost his bid to revive his disability discrimination claim against the high street lender's investment banking arm as an appeals tribunal upheld findings that it did not know about his Asperger's syndrome diagnosis when he unsuccessfully applied to rejoin the company.
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May 28, 2024
White & Case Guides ABN Amro On €672M German Bank Buy
Dutch lender ABN Amro said Tuesday that it plans to a buy German private bank for €672 million ($730 million) in a move to become one of the largest providers of banking services to wealthy clients in Germany.
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May 24, 2024
The UK Laws That Will Pass Or Fail As Election Looms
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's decision to call an early general election to be held on July 4 has left several pieces of legislation hanging in the balance during the so-called "wash-up" period before Parliament is formally dissolved, while others have been pushed through.
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May 24, 2024
Labour Gov't Could Force Big Tech Into Fraud Repayments
A potential new Labour government means a turning point in tackling financial fraud if it should force big tech companies like Meta and Google to join banks in having to reimburse customers duped into sending fraudsters money, according to lawyers.
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May 24, 2024
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London
This past week in London has seen an IT engineer seek permission to search a landfill hiding a hard drive supposedly storing millions of pounds in bitcoin, Glencore take on legal action by American Century Investments, gold payment app Glint bring a breach of duty claim against FRP Advisory, and an ongoing dispute between a solicitor and the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.
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May 24, 2024
Banking 'Selfie' Fraudster Gets 3 Years In Prison
A fraudster was handed a three-year prison sentence for making fake applications to obtain loans and pensions potentially losing banks around £178,000 ($227,000), the Crown Prosecution Service announced Friday.
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May 24, 2024
FCA Bans Two Advisers Accused Of Misleading Clients
The Financial Conduct Authority has banned two advisers from working in financial services for "recklessly" exposing pension holders to high-risk investments, the regulator said Friday.
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May 24, 2024
Woman Imprisoned For Laundering From $5B Bitcoin Fraud
A British-Chinese woman was imprisoned for more than six years on Friday at a London court for laundering bitcoin converted from an alleged £5 billion ($6.3 billion) investment fraud.
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May 24, 2024
Addleshaw Guides Coventry's £780M Co-op Bank Deal
Coventry Building Society has formalized plans to buy the Co-operative Bank for £780 million ($990 million), the lenders said in a joint statement Friday, a move they claim will create an institution better equipped to challenge larger high street names.
Expert Analysis
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How Employers Can Support Neurodiversity In The Workplace
A recent run of cases emphasize employers' duties to make reasonable adjustments for neurodiverse employees under the Equalities Act, illustrating the importance of investing in staff education and listening to neurodivergent workers to improve recruitment, retention and productivity in the workplace, say Anna Henderson and Tim Leaver at Herbert Smith.
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What The Anti-Coercion Instrument Will Bring To The EU
Vassilis Akritidis and Jean-Baptiste Blancardi at Crowell & Moring discuss why the European Union recently adopted a report on the anti-coercion instrument to reform its trade legislation, how the instrument will be used to respond to unfair economic pressure from third countries, and how businesses can impact the EU's decision making.
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Why FCA Crypto Rules Need To Align With UK Gov't Aims
There is a critical need for cryptocurrency regulations that protect consumers while supporting the government's aim to make the U.K. a crypto hub, but the Financial Conduct Authority’s recently effective rules on financial promotion of crypto-assets bring an unintended risk that legitimate firms will be driven out of the market, says Laura Navarathnam at the Crypto Council for Innovation.
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CMA Report On AI May Lead to Greater Competition Control
The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority’s recent report on artificial intelligence foundation models is a sign that developers could face increased merger control and antitrust enforcement, and businesses should be mindful of these views to ensure that their models do not come under investigation, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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UK Mozambique Ruling Will Have Int'l Ramifications
The recent U.K. Supreme Court judgment in Mozambique v. Privinvest considered for the first time stay proceedings under the Arbitration Act, offering guidance on whether claims are a "matter" within the scope of an arbitration clause, which could become a point of reference for foreign courts in the future, say lawyers at Herbert Smith.
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Recent Trends In European ESG-Related Shareholder Activism
New ESG reporting standards in the European Union, as well as recent climate change, board diversity and human rights cases, illustrate how shareholder activism may become more prominent in years to come as regulation and investor engagement continues to strengthen, say lawyers at Debevoise.
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Audit Regulator Review Has Tips On Climate Metric Reporting
The U.K. Financial Reporting Council’s recent review of climate-related metrics and targets in listed companies’ annual reports is an extremely useful guide for issuers considering the quality of their disclosure reporting, with a number of key areas identified as central to further improvement, say lawyers at Bryan Cave.
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What Russia Case Reveals About UK Sanctions Enforcement
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation recently issued its first enforcement action under the U.K.'s expanded Russia sanctions against a relatively small company for a moderately severe breach — a decision that highlights several questions about the watchdog’s purpose and methods, say Maia Cohen-Lask and Tasha Benkhadra at Corker Binning.
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Breaking Down The UK's Draft Updates To Prospectus Regime
While there still may be changes, the U.K.'s near-final draft statutory instrument to update and in some parts replace the current on-shored EU prospectus regime is likely to represent a significant overhaul of the existing regime and may make U.K. capital markets a more attractive venue for listings for issuers, say attorneys at Debevoise.
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Italy's Bank-Profits Tax Plan May Become Model For Eurozone
If Italy's recently proposed 40% bank-profits tax helps keep its populist coalition government in power, notwithstanding the European Central Bank's legal challenges, the passage could spark a windfall tax trend across the eurozone and even in the U.K., says Cris Cicala at Stinson.
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Bitcoin Case Highlights Advanced Age Of UK's IP Law
An appellate court's recent decision in a case involving the copyright of bitcoin's file format emphasizes the role of copyright protection in software, and also the challenges of applying decades-old laws to new technologies, say Marianna Foerg and Ben Bell at Potter Clarkson.
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Accountability Is Key To Preventing Miscarriages Of Justice
The wrongful conviction of Andrew Malkinson and other recent cases show that in order to avoid future miscarriages of justice, there needs to be a fundamental reevaluation of how investigators, prosecutors and the Criminal Cases Review Commission operate, prioritizing stronger penalties and increased funding, say Thomas Walford at Expert Evidence International and policy analyst Gerald Frost.
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4 Compliance Considerations Under FCA Consumer Duty
Following the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority's recent introduction of the new consumer duty regime, firms will need to be mindful of data protection implications when managing their compliance with the duty and data protection legislation, say lawyers at Bird & Bird.
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What Could Come Of CFPB, EU Consumer Finance Collab
A recent joint statement from the European Commission and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau focused on how technology is affecting consumers of financial services, potentially recognizing that legal protections are lacking because tech regulations lag behind its development, say attorneys at DLA Piper.
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6 Key Factors For Successful Cross-Border Dispute Mediation
The European landscape of cross-border disputes diverges markedly from the U.S. experience and presents unique challenges, including the amalgamation of diverse cultures and legal systems, but there are several practical steps that practitioners can take to effectively navigate the process, says Peter Kamminga at JAMS.