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Financial Services UK
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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Report Can Aid With Sustainable Finance Disclosure Filings
The European Supervisory Authorities recently issued a report on companies' consideration of the principal adverse impacts of their investment decisions on sustainability factors, providing examples of good and bad disclosure practices under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, which firms should note in their future reporting, say lawyers at Debevoise.
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Protecting The Arbitral Process In Russia-Related Disputes
Four recent High Court and Court of Appeal rulings concerning anti-suit injunction claims illustrate that companies exposed to litigation risk in Russia may need to carefully consider how to best protect their interests and the arbitral process with regard to a Russian counterparty, say lawyers at Linklaters.
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Audit Reform Takeaways After Record KPMG Fine
The Financial Reporting Council’s recent £21 million fine against KPMG for its Carillion audit work failures is representative of the agency’s increasing proactivity in policing audit quality, and brings to light the U.K. government’s slow-moving but ongoing efforts to majorly reform audit sector regulations, says Paul Brehony at Signature Litigation.
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RSA Insurance Ruling Clarifies Definition Of 'Insured Loss'
A London appeals court's recent ruling in Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance v. Tughans, that the insurer must provide coverage for a liability that included the law firm's fees, shows that a claim for the recovery of fees paid to a firm can constitute an insured loss, say James Roberts and Sophia Hanif at Clyde & Co.
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Putin Ruling May Have Unintended Sanctions Consequences
By widening the scope of control, the Court of Appeal's recent judgment in Mints v. PJSC opens the possibility that everything in Russia could be deemed to be controlled by President Vladimir Putin, which would significantly expand the U.K.'s sanctions regime in unintended ways, say attorneys at Greenberg Traurig.
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Navigating The New Framework On Nature-Related Reporting
The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures’ recently published disclosure framework represents a significant step toward the coalescence of nature-related disclosure standards for corporates and financial institutions, and has the potential to influence investor expectations and future regulation, say lawyers at Kirkland.
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FCA Engagement Signals New Direction In ESG Disclosures
The Financial Conduct Authority recently published a response to a consultation on sustainability-related standards, highlighting the regulator's priorities for the U.K.'s green transition, including an early indication that it may turn its attention to nature-based disclosures, say Ferdisha Snagg and Andreas Wildner at Cleary.
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New Policies Will Aid UK Cos. Accessing US Capital Markets
The U.K. government's recent adoption of regulations permitting the use of U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, and announcement of measures to remove a 1.5% tax on certain share issues and transfers, should help ensure that England remains an attractive holding company jurisdiction for companies seeking a listing on U.S. stock exchanges, say lawyers at Davis Polk.
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Key Takeaways From ICO Report On Workforce Monitoring
The Information Commissioner's Office recently published guidance on workplace monitoring, highlighting that employers must strike a balance between their business needs and workers' privacy rights to avoid falling afoul of U.K. data protection law requirements, say lawyers at MoFo.
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Creating A Safe Workplace Goes Beyond DEI Compliance
The Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority recently proposed a new diversity and inclusion regulatory framework to combat sexual harassment in the workplace, and companies should take this opportunity to holistically transform their culture to ensure zero tolerance for misconduct, says Vivek Dodd at Skillcast.
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Asset Managers Should Prepare For Nature-Related Reporting
Although it is doubtful that the U.K. nature-related task force’s recent recommendations for mandatory nature reporting will come into effect imminently, it is likely that investors will begin to use them to assess risks and will request asset managers to shift capital flows to more sustainable outcomes, say lawyers at Macfarlanes.
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What Justices' Cert. Denial Of Terrorism Suit Means For Banks
The U.S. Supreme Court's denial of certiorari in Freeman v. HSBC Holdings lets stand the Second Circuit's decision on the narrow scope of conspiracy liability under the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, providing protection for banks that otherwise could have faced liability for finance activities with limited connections to third parties' unlawful acts, say attorneys at Sidley.
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Firms Should Prepare For New DEI Reporting Requirements
While the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority's recent proposals on diversity and inclusion in the financial sector are progressive, implementing reporting requirements will pose data collection and privacy protection challenges for employers, say lawyers at Fieldfisher.
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What The UK Digital Markets Bill Will Mean For Businesses
The new investigatory and enforcement powers conferred by the U.K. Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill mean that although businesses may be aware of their market status due to existing EU law, they should ensure they are mindful of the changes to consumer law and the implications for digital markets, says Richard Hugo at Burges Salmon.
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5 Takeaways From ICO's Biometric Recognition Guidance
Recent guidance from the U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office is a helpful reminder of key data protection principles and obligations stemming from the U.K. General Data Protection Regulation that organizations should consider when implementing biometric recognition technology, say lawyers at Dechert.