Financial Services UK

  • May 23, 2024

    FCA Fines HSBC £6.2M For Mistreating Customers In Arrears

    The Financial Conduct Authority said Thursday that it has fined HSBC £6.2 million ($7.9 million) for inadequate treatment of customers in financial difficulty. 

  • May 30, 2024

    White & Case Hires 2 Latham Partners In Germany

    White & Case LLP has added two partners from Latham & Watkins LLP with more than three decades worth of experience between them in capital markets to its Frankfurt office.

  • May 23, 2024

    Hargreaves Lansdown Snubs £4.7B Bid From CVC, Abu Dhabi

    The board of Hargreaves Lansdown said Thursday that it has rejected a proposed £4.7 billion ($6 billion) takeover offer from a consortium of private equity companies, including CVC and the sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi.

  • May 22, 2024

    Property Transfer For Tax Break Not Dishonest, UK Court Says

    Two liquidated London real estate companies failed to convince the United Kingdom Court of Appeal that their former director behaved dishonestly by transferring their holdings to Jersey trusts for less than market value to obtain a tax advantage, according to a judgment released Wednesday.

  • May 22, 2024

    HSBC Can't Use Brexit To End UK Role In EU Body, Staff Say

    High street lender HSBC is obligated to keep the U.K. arm of its European works council despite Brexit, the representative body for European staff argued Wednesday as it challenged a ruling that the bank could exclude the U.K. once it left the European Economic Area.

  • May 22, 2024

    Ex-Goldman Banker Gets Contempt Sentence Suspended

    A London appellate court on Wednesday chose "the road of mercy rather than justice" and suspended a prison sentence for a former Goldman Sachs banker who breached court orders to hand over information concerning the financial assets of the wife of an imprisoned Turkish politician.

  • May 22, 2024

    Hilco Exec Wins £296K After Being Sacked For Whistleblowing

    A tribunal has awarded a former Hilco Capital Ltd. HR director almost £296,000 ($377,000) in compensation after she was unfairly sacked for blowing the whistle over alleged banking irregularities.

  • May 22, 2024

    UK Gov't Calls Elections For July 4 Despite Poor Polls

    Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday called an early general election to be held on July 4, advancing the electoral timetable even though his Conservative Party lags decisively behind the opposition Labour Party.

  • May 22, 2024

    City Group Warns Financial Fraud Still Major Problem

    A City trade body for financial institutions said Tuesday that payment fraud remains a major problem, with criminals stealing more than £1 billion ($1.27 billion) in 2023, shifting into growth areas such as mobile banking.

  • May 22, 2024

    Swiss Gov't Adopts Proposals For Tougher AML Laws

    Switzerland on Wednesday approved a new anti-money laundering framework that will introduce a register in which companies and other legal entities in the country will have to disclose information on their beneficial owners in a major shift in its anti-money laundering rules.

  • May 22, 2024

    UK Dependency To Implement Pillar 2 Starting In 2025

    The island of Jersey, a U.K. crown dependency, said it would implement the international minimum tax for large corporations known as Pillar Two, with the law taking effect next year.

  • May 22, 2024

    HSBC Rejects Ex-Football Pro's £2M Loan Dispute

    HSBC has denied losing former professional footballer Matthew Jansen almost £2 million ($2.5 million) by allegedly failing to monitor the risk of loans secured against properties during the 2008 financial crisis, claiming the sportsman could have kept track himself.

  • May 22, 2024

    Chinese Woman Faces Oct. Criminal Crypto Possession Trial

    A Chinese woman and her alleged accomplice are scheduled to stand trial in London in October, charged with criminal possession and transfer of cryptocurrency, a judge said Wednesday.

  • May 22, 2024

    Digital Assets Investor To Return Up To £34M To Shareholders

    Phoenix Digital Assets PLC launched on Wednesday a share repurchase program worth up to £33.7 million (£43 million), a move guided by Fladgate LLP, following the sale of some of its assets.

  • May 22, 2024

    EU Watchdog Seeks New Powers For Markets Regulation

    The European Union's financial markets watchdog called Tuesday for more regulatory powers and a simplified rulebook to improve the bloc's declining global competitiveness.

  • May 22, 2024

    Greenberg-Led SPAC To Buy Safety Biz For $1.85B, Quit LSE

    Admiral said on Wednesday that it has agreed to buy industry safety company Acuren for $1.85 billion, as the blank-check business seeks a slice of the growing and resilient infrastructure inspection sector.

  • May 22, 2024

    Citigroup Fined £61.6M For Trading Systems Failings

    Two finance regulators said Wednesday they have fined Citigroup Global Markets Ltd. a total of £61.6 million ($78.4 million) for failures in trading systems that led to the lender mistakenly selling $1.4 billion in equities into European markets.

  • May 21, 2024

    EU Gives Final Approval To World's First AI Rulebook

    European Union law negotiators gave the final green light on Tuesday to the first worldwide rules on artificial intelligence across most sectors including financial services, classifying its usage in bank lending risk assessments or insurance underwriting for EU citizens as high-risk.

  • May 21, 2024

    Denmark's Sydbank To Acquire Local Coop Bank For $50M

    Danish lender Sydbank said Tuesday that it has agreed to acquire the country's Coop Bank AS from its parent company for a preliminary purchase price of 345 million Danish kroner ($50.2 million), in addition to signing a partnership agreement.

  • May 21, 2024

    I Am An Honest Man, British Trader Tells £1.4B Fraud Trial

    Sanjay Shah, a former hedge fund owner who is accused of defrauding Denmark's tax authority out of £1.4 billion ($1.8 billion), told a London court on Tuesday that he is an "honest man" who traded using a legal "loophole."

  • May 21, 2024

    Finance Pros 'Too Afraid' To Blow Whistle On Fraud

    More than three-quarters of finance professionals in the U.K. stayed silent after spotting or suspecting internal fraud in their workplaces, a survey published on Tuesday showed, with nearly half saying they feared a backlash.

  • May 21, 2024

    Credit Union In Default, £2.6M Compensation Expected

    The Financial Services Compensation Scheme said Tuesday it will protect the members of Castle & Crystal Credit Union Ltd. as the financial company entered into administration.

  • May 21, 2024

    UK Pension Reform Could Create 'Too Big To Fail' Providers

    The proposed government fix for the spiraling number of retirement savings pots could create pension giants that are too big to fail, an industry body warned on Tuesday.

  • May 21, 2024

    Mastercard, Visa Fee Hikes Face UK Competition Scrutiny

    The Payment Systems Regulator said Tuesday that the two biggest card operators, Mastercard and Visa, do not give value for money on their services and that it will take steps to hold them more accountable.

  • May 21, 2024

    Ex-Insurance Exec's Wife Denies Knowledge Of Illegal Money

    The wife of a former executive at Gable Insurance has denied cashing in on unauthorized payments from her husband who, the Liechtenstein insurer alleges, siphoned off millions of pounds from the company to accounts he had links to.

Expert Analysis

  • FCA Consumer Duty May Pose Enforcement Challenges

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    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.

  • UK Insolvency Reform Review Shows Measures Are Working

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    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.

  • More UK Collective Actions On The Horizon After Forex Ruling

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    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.

  • FCA Listing Reform Proposals Aim To Modernize UK Markets

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    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.

  • Takeaways From ICO's Action In NatWest Privacy Dispute

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    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.

  • How The OECD Global Tax Proposal Could Affect M&A

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    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.

  • How Russia Sanctions May Complicate Contract Obligations

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    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.

  • New Guidance Offers Clarity For Charities On ESG Investing

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    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.

  • 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.

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