Financial Services UK

  • July 09, 2024

    Pensions Bill Unlikely In King's Speech, Aegon Says

    Sweeping pension reform is unlikely to be included in the first King's Speech under Keir Starmer's newly elected government, pensions provider Aegon said Tuesday as it predicted that existing changes in retirement savings policy might take center stage.

  • July 09, 2024

    FCA To Require Criminal Record Checks On New Firm Owners

    The Financial Conduct Authority has proposed to require owners and controllers of financial firms applying for authorization to obtain criminal background checks.

  • July 09, 2024

    Ex-Pensions Minister Timms Returns To DWP In New Gov't

    Former pensions minister Stephen Timms has returned to the Department for Work and Pensions in the new Labour government, the ministry has said. 

  • July 09, 2024

    BBC Rebuffed In Effort To Cut Costs Of £20B Pension Scheme

    An attempt by the British Broadcasting Corp. to reduce benefits for employees enrolled in its £19.8 billion ($25.4 billion) pension scheme has been rebuffed as the Court of Appeal ruled in favor of members on Tuesday.

  • July 09, 2024

    Thomas Cook Creditors To Get Back £280M After Asset Sale

    Creditors of Thomas Cook will receive a total of £280 million ($358 million) before the end of September after the senior civil servant overseeing the liquidation sold all available assets owned by the collapsed travel giant, according to the Insolvency Service.

  • July 08, 2024

    FX Fund Says Investments Wiped Out By Legit Trading Losses

    An investment fund that lost a client's money trading on the foreign exchange market has denied running a scam, claiming it owes the investor nothing because the losses were part of normal day-to-day trading.

  • July 08, 2024

    Trader Denies Knowingly Making False Cum-Ex Trades

    A British trader who has been convicted of defrauding Denmark in a sham tax reclaim scheme on Monday testified before a London court that he did not knowingly make false trades in order to make fraudulent tax refund applications, in a landmark £1.4 billion ($1.8 billion) trial.

  • July 08, 2024

    Council's Whistleblowing Investment Head Unfairly Sacked

    An English city council official has won his whistleblowing detriment and unfair dismissal claim against his former employer after he was fired for conduct unrelated to his concerns that a fellow director encouraged a contractor to bring legal action against the council.

  • July 08, 2024

    Audit Watchdog Creates New Monitoring, Digital Functions

    Britain's accounting watchdog said Monday it will create two new market functions to support enforcement and supervision as well as digital reporting, driving U.K. growth as part of its response to earlier government-led criticisms.

  • July 08, 2024

    Reeves Sets Out Plans For Pensions Investing, Fiscal Review

    HM Treasury will work to direct pensions investment to British businesses, create a national wealth fund and conduct a fiscal review into government finances, Rachel Reeves said in her first public speech as chancellor on Monday.

  • July 08, 2024

    Pensions Watchdog To Probe Master Trust Investment Plans

    The Pensions Regulator said on Monday that it will be ramping up its focus on the investment strategies of Britian's master trusts to ensure their plans and methods deliver best results for savers.

  • July 08, 2024

    NIG Sued By Asset Manager Over £4M Fire Destruction

    Parker Asset Management Ltd. has sued a subsidiary of U K Insurance Ltd. for allegedly failing to honor an insurance policy after a fire destroyed one of the firm's commercial properties and resulted in a loss of about £4.2 million ($4.5 million).

  • July 08, 2024

    EU Plans To Cut Some Financial Reporting Requirements

    The markets watchdog of the European Union proposed on Monday to combine and reduce regular information reporting requirements from credit ratings agencies, benchmark administrators and market transparency infrastructures.

  • July 05, 2024

    EU Watchdog Sets Out Sustainability Reporting Expectations

    The European Union's financial markets regulator on Friday set out its expectations on new sustainability reporting standards for large companies with shares listed on stock exchanges and their regulators.

  • July 05, 2024

    Bitcoin Fraudster Gets £1.5M Of Assets Frozen

    A London court on Friday froze assets worth over £1.5 million ($1.9 million) belonging to Craig Wright, the man who falsely claimed to be the inventor of bitcoin, to cover the costs of a cryptocurrency podcaster who had to defend against Wright's defamation allegation.

  • July 05, 2024

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

    This past week in London has seen collapsed sports television company Arena Television hit Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Bank with a claim, James Vorley, the Deutsche Bank metals trader convicted of fraud, sue his former employer, and journalist John Ware file a defamation claim against Pink Floyd band member Roger Waters and Al Jazeera Media Network. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • July 05, 2024

    Matrix KC Richard Hermer Tapped For Attorney General

    Matrix Chambers' human rights barrister Richard Hermer KC will serve as the U.K.'s attorney general in a surprise appointment from newly-elected Prime Minister Keir Starmer late Friday.

  • July 05, 2024

    Signature Litigation Partner Elected To ICC

    An international arbitration partner at Signature Litigation has been elected to the International Chamber of Commerce to represent Ethiopia for the next three years.

  • July 05, 2024

    Recruiting Co. Fights To Overturn Redundancy Fairness Loss

    A recruitment company urged a London appellate court on Friday to overturn a ruling that the company botched a redundancy process when it decided to fire an employee three weeks before the start of the consultation process, arguing that the employee had not pushed for an alternative.

  • July 05, 2024

    Shabana Mahmood Named Labour's New Justice Secretary

    Prime Minister Keir Starmer named former barrister Shabana Mahmood as the Labour government's new justice secretary on Friday following a sweeping victory in the U.K. general election.

  • July 05, 2024

    Nordea Laundered $4B For Russians, Denmark Police Say

    Police in Denmark charged Nordic bank Nordea on Friday with allegedly laundering $3.8 billion for Russian customers, in what could be the biggest violation of the country's safeguards against dirty money.

  • July 05, 2024

    Starmer Picks Reeves For Treasury To Steer Growth Aims

    Prime Minister Keir Starmer has handed the reins of the U.K.'s fiscal and economic policy to Rachel Reeves, formally naming her as the next chancellor of the exchequer in the first of a round of cabinet appointments on Friday.

  • July 05, 2024

    Starmer Starts Work As Cabinet Appointments Expected

    Keir Starmer, the newly elected prime minister, promised change that focuses on the economy and wealth creation as he prepared on Friday to begin appointing cabinet ministers to form the Labour Party's first government since 2010.

  • July 05, 2024

    Investment Cos. Ask New Gov't To Remove Disclosure Rules

    A trade body urged the incoming Labour government on Friday to remove unfair cost disclosure rules for investment companies that put the sector at a competitive disadvantage.

  • July 05, 2024

    Mastercard Fails In Jurisdiction Bid To Cut Swipe Fees Claim

    Mastercard failed Friday to knock out claims worth more than £200 million ($255 million) from a mammoth swipe fees class action after the appeals court in London said the law governing the dispute should be that of England and Wales or Scotland.

Expert Analysis

  • Mitigating Incarceration's Impacts On Foreign Nationals

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    Sentencing arguments that highlighted the disparate impact incarceration would have on a British national recently sentenced for insider training by a New York district court, when compared to similarly situated U.S. citizens, provide an example of the advocacy needed to avoid or mitigate problems unique to noncitizen defendants, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert.

  • Decoding Arbitral Disputes: The Benefits Of Non-EU Venues

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    In Spain v. Triodos, a Swedish appeal court recently annulled an intra-EU investment treaty award, reinforcing a growing trend in the bloc against enforcing such awards, and highlighting the advantages of initiating enforcement proceedings in common law jurisdictions, such as the U.K., says Josep Galvez at 4-5 Gray's Inn Square.

  • How Proposed Platforms For Unlisted Co. Trading May Work

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    The U.K. government is continuing development of its proposed private intermittent securities and capital exchange system to facilitate secondary share trading in private companies through a regulatory sandbox while ironing out details, representing an innovative step for unlisted company liquidity, say lawyers at Sullivan & Cromwell.

  • Experian Ruling Helps Cos. Navigate GDPR Transparency

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    In Information Commissioner v. Experian, the Upper Tribunal recently reaffirmed the lawfulness of the company's marketing practices, providing guidance that will assist organizations in complying with the GDPR’s transparency obligations, say lawyers at Jenner & Block.

  • Clarity Is Central Theme In FCA's Greenwashing Guidance

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    Recent Financial Conduct Authority guidance for complying with the U.K. regulator's anti-greenwashing rule sends an overarching message that sustainability claims must be clear, accurate and capable of being substantiated, say lawyers at Cadwalader.

  • How New FCA Rules Strengthen Borrower Protections

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    The Financial Conduct Authority’s recently published final rules, aimed at strengthening protections for borrowers in financial difficulty by regularizing good practices across the industry, put its previous guidance on a permanent footing and send a clear message to firms that this issue remains a regulatory priority, say James Black, Julie Patient and Mark Aengenheister at Hogan Lovells.

  • Opinion

    New Property Category Not Needed To Regulate Digital Assets

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    The U.K. Law Commission's exploration of whether to create a third category of property for digital assets is derived from a misreading of historical case law, and would not be helpful in resolving any questions surrounding digital assets, says Duncan Sheehan at the University of Leeds.

  • FTSE Draft Rules Show Impact Of FCA Listing Reforms

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    FTSE Russell’s recently published provisional rule changes represent a much-awaited indication of its response to the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority’s proposed listing reforms, providing a level of certainty that will assist issuers and advisers in preparing for the implementation of the regime, say lawyers at Davis Polk.

  • FCA Strikes A Balance With 'Finfluencer' Guidance

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    With financial firms leveraging social media to engage with a broader audience, the Financial Conduct Authority’s recent "finfluencer" guidance signals a recognition of the imperative to adapt regulatory frameworks while maintaining a firm commitment to consumer protection, say David Allinson and Damien O'Malley at RPC.

  • Dissecting Recent Developments Against The Misuse Of NDAs

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    The U.K. government's recent plans to nullify nondisclosure agreements that prevent victims from reporting crimes should remind lawyers to proactively consider the necessity of such agreements, especially in light of the Solicitors Regulation Authority's warning notice on drafting improper NDAs, say Clare Davis and Macaela Joyes at RPC.

  • What To Know About The Russia-Stranded Plane Ruling

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    The High Court's recent decision in Zephyrus Capital Aviation v. Fidelis Underwriting, rejecting reinsurers' U.K. jurisdiction challenges in claims over stranded planes in Russia, has broad implications for cross-border litigation involving exclusive jurisdiction clauses, says Samantha Zaozirny at Browne Jacobson.

  • 3 Notable Pensions Reforms In Spring Budget

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    The U.K. government’s spring budget introduced reforms to improve pension outcomes through the value for money framework and the lifetime provider model, as well as to encourage investments in Britain — three interlinked areas that could pressure trustees and providers to rethink how they approach investments, say Liz Ramsaran and Marcus Fink at DWF.

  • Assessing The FCA Data Study's Response To User Concerns

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    The Financial Conduct Authority’s recently published report on the supply of wholesale financial data differs from others in its exceptional breadth and analysis of an enormous volume of information, but in its reluctance to address market power or pricing directly, the regulator’s approach is still cautious, say Emma Radcliffe and Greg Dowell at Macfarlanes.

  • Focus On Private Funds Will Boost Ireland's Global Standing

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    As the market increasingly pivots to private funds, Ireland's recent introduction of particular products — such as an updated, flexible European long-term investment fund — provides more structuring opportunities and paves the way for a brighter outlook in the country, say lawyers at Dechert.

  • Cum-Ex Prosecutions Storm Shows No Sign Of Abating

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    The ongoing trial of Sanjay Shah in Denmark is a clear indicator that efforts remain focused on holding to account the alleged architects and beneficiaries of cum-ex trading, and with these prosecutions making their way across Europe, it is a more turbulent time now than ever, says Niall Hearty at Rahman Ravelli.

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