Financial Services UK

  • July 02, 2024

    £8.5M Property Deal Said To Defraud Creditors In Debt Row

    A British Virgin Islands-registered company has asked a London court to declare that the transfer of an estimated £8.5 million ($10.8 million) property by one of its debtors was done to intentionally hinder the company's chances to reclaim the money it is allegedly owed.

  • July 02, 2024

    Worldpay Faces Demand For Client Info In Alleged FX Fraud

    An architecture firm has asked a London court to order merchant service provider Worldpay to hand over a virtual ledger of one of its customer's accounts in an attempt to track down $1.17 million allegedly missing in a forex broker fraud.

  • July 02, 2024

    EU Watchdog Requires Regulatory Liaison On Insurer Moves

    The European Union's insurance watchdog has published ground rules for regulators from departure and destination countries of insurers relocating within the bloc to engage actively and clearly.

  • July 09, 2024

    Latham Hires Finance Trio In London From Cahill Gordon

    Latham & Watkins LLP has recruited a trio of partners from Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP as it continues to grow its banking practice in London.

  • July 09, 2024

    Lawrence Stephens Hires 2 Directors From Rosling King

    Ann Ebberson and Alex Edwards have joined Lawrence Stephens Ltd. from Rosling King LLP as directors on the real estate finance and banking teams.

  • July 02, 2024

    FCA Approves PE Firm's £432M Bid For Wealth Manager

    Wealth management firm Mattioli Woods said Monday that the U.K.'s financial regulator has given a green light to its approximately £432 million ($546 million) acquisition by London private equity firm Pollen Street Capital.

  • July 02, 2024

    City Body Calls For Digital Gilt To Boost Retail Investing

    Britain's leading financial services trade body called Tuesday for a U.K. digital gilt to encourage retail investors, in a set of briefing papers aiming to improve competitiveness of capital markets.

  • July 02, 2024

    Liechtenstein Bank To Buy Austria's Kantonalbank

    Liechtensteinische Landesbank AG, a Liechtenstein-based lender known as LLB, said Tuesday that it agreed to buy Austrian bank Zürcher Kantonalbank Österreich AG in an all-cash deal. The purchase price was not disclosed.

  • July 02, 2024

    Just Group Lands £260M Aviation Co. Pension Deal

    Insurer Just Group on Tuesday announced it has taken on £260 million ($328.7 million) worth of pension liabilities from a retirement savings plan sponsored by aviation company John Menzies Ltd., in a deal guided by Brodies LLP and Gowling WLG.

  • July 02, 2024

    HSBC Beats Former Risk Chief's Race Bias Case

    HSBC has dodged claims of discrimination and unfair dismissal from a former financial risk chief after the High Street bank proved that it let him go because his role had become redundant, convincing a tribunal that race played no part in the decision.

  • July 01, 2024

    Accountant Loses Employee Status Bid In Partnership Fight

    A tax accountant has failed to convince an appeals tribunal that he was an employee at the time of his dismissal, because despite a "shambolic" transition and lack of a written agreement, the genuine intention was to promote him to partner.

  • July 01, 2024

    Global Group Tells Banks To Report Suspected Crime Better

    A global banking group for combating financial crime warned Monday that banks should improve the quality of suspicious activity reports to make them more useful to law enforcement and cutting current over-reporting.

  • July 01, 2024

    Monzo Introduces New Anti-Fraud Controls

    Monzo Bank Ltd. launched Monday three new security features to add a layer of protection for payments and pot withdrawals exceeding a daily allowance while addressing the growing concern of phone theft and fraud.

  • July 01, 2024

    EU Bans Giving Tax Consulting Services To Belarus

    The European Union has introduced a ban on providing tax consulting and many other professional services to Belarus in a wide-ranging package of measures largely aimed at preventing the circumvention of the bloc's sanctions against Russia, a statement said.

  • July 01, 2024

    Payment Services Business Begins £20M Share Buyback

    PayPoint PLC on Monday commenced its up to £20 million ($25 million) share repurchase program, part of the payment services company's three-year scheme aimed at returning capital to investors.

  • July 01, 2024

    Skadden-Led BlackRock To Buy Data Group Preqin For £2.6B

    Investment firm BlackRock said Monday that it has agreed to acquire private markets data provider Preqin for £2.55 billion ($3.2 billion) to boost its investment management in a deal guided by Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP and Macfarlanes LLP.

  • July 01, 2024

    Osborne Clarke Guides Aviva's School Pension Deal

    Insurance giant Aviva has completed a full scheme buy-in for a pension plan sponsored by Taunton School, consultancy Broadstone said Monday, in a deal guided by Osborne Clarke LLP.

  • June 28, 2024

    EU Insurance Watchdog Warns Of Real Estate Risk Exposure

    The European pensions and insurance industries are increasingly exposed to the possibility of a real estate collapse, the sector watchdog warned in a newly published report into the financial stability for the region.

  • June 28, 2024

    EU Adds 4 Pro-Russian Companies To Sanctions List

    The Council of the European Union added four Russian companies and two individuals to its sanctions list Friday for actions that threaten Ukraine amid Russia's waging war against it.

  • June 28, 2024

    Taxation With Representation: Kirkland, Vinson, Skadden

    In this week's Taxation with Representation, Aareal Bank AG and Advent International sell a property management and maintenance software company, Webtoon Entertainment Inc. and Tamboran Resources Corp. price initial public offerings, SM Energy Company acquires oil and gas assets, and Nokia sells Alcatel Submarine Networks to the French state.

  • June 28, 2024

    Firms Face Increased Scrutiny Amid FCA Focus On Resilience

    The Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority have challenged two thirds of general insurance and investment firms about their ability to prevent disruption by threats like cyberattacks, according to an industry study.

  • June 28, 2024

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

    This past week in London has seen Uber hit with claims from Addison Lee and the former CEO of the Kabbee app, animal by-product company Leo Group file a defamation claim against a local anti-odor campaigner, and a self-styled lord who claims to be the illegitimate son of the late Prince Phillip resume legal action against his cousins for a share in his late aunt's estate. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • June 28, 2024

    Turkey Taken Off Global AML Monitoring List After Rule Fixes

    The Financial Action Task Force said Friday that it has removed Turkey from its "gray list" after the country improved its anti-money laundering rules and strengthened its regulations combating the financing of terrorism.

  • June 28, 2024

    ING Claim Would Fund Sanctioned Billionaire, Tecnimont Says

    ING cannot recover money from Tecnimont in a €212 million ($227 million) bond dispute because compensating the Dutch lender would directly fund a sanctioned Russian billionaire, the Italian industrial group said in London court filings.

  • June 28, 2024

    Fidelis Claims No Liability In $23M Stranded Jet Spat

    Fidelis Underwriting Ltd. has hit back at another claim that it must pay out in a $23 million row over a leased plane stranded in Russia, arguing that no insured event has occurred, and that an Irish aviation lessor is not covered by the country's law.

Expert Analysis

  • Accountability Is Key To Preventing Miscarriages Of Justice

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    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.

  • 4 Compliance Considerations Under FCA Consumer Duty

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    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.

  • What Could Come Of CFPB, EU Consumer Finance Collab

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    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.

  • 6 Key Factors For Successful Cross-Border Dispute Mediation

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    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.

  • Operational Resilience Considerations In Financial Services

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    A recent letter from the Financial Conduct Authority reminds CEOs of U.K. wholesale banks of their role in the safety and soundness of markets, but all firms can draw lessons and consider their own operational resilience for longer-term security and commercial benefit, says Richard Tall at Faegre Drinker.

  • UK Tech Cases Warn Of Liability Clause Drafting Pitfalls

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    The recent U.K. High Court cases Drax Energy Solutions v. Wipro and EE v. Virgin Mobile Telecoms indicate a more literal judicial approach to construing limitations of liability, even when this significantly limits a claimant's recoverable damages, highlighting the importance of carefully drafted liability provisions, say Helen Armstrong and Tania Williams at RPC.

  • How The UK Investment Screening Regime Is Taking Shape

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    A recent order imposing remedies on an acquisition by EDF Energy highlights emerging trends in the U.K. government's national security reviews of transactions under the U.K. National Security and Investment Act, and shows how the U.K. remedy landscape compares to the U.S. regime, say lawyers at Arnold & Porter.

  • Consultations Underpin Mandatory Fraud Victim Repayment

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    The U.K. Payment Systems Regulator’s recent consultations on authorized push payment fraud reinforce its June policy expectation, which said that unless there is evidence of gross negligence and the consumer standard of caution has not been followed, providers must reimburse fraud victims, say lawyers at Hogan Lovells.

  • Swiss Privacy Law Reforms Present Divergences From GDPR

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    The differences between Switzerland’s recently reformed Federal Act on Data Protection and the EU's General Data Protection Regulation, particularly around data breach reporting and the liability of company officers, will need to be carefully managed by multinationals that may have competing obligations under different laws, say Kim Roberts and Vanessa Alarcon Duvanel at King & Spalding.

  • New Legislation May Not Be Needed For Recovery Of Crypto

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    The recent seizure of cryptocurrency under a civil recovery order raises the issue of whether extended powers under the forthcoming Economic Crime Bill are necessary, with the ability to seize crypto-related items that may be the subject of a search order more likely to be of assistance, says Nicola McKinney at Quillon Law.

  • Opinion

    Russia Ruling Should Lead UK To Review Sanctions Policy

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    The High Court's recent dismissal of the first-ever court challenge to Russian sanctions in Shvidler v. Secretary of State sets a demanding standard for overturning designation decisions, highlighting the need for an independent review of the Russia sanctions regime, says Helen Taylor at Spotlight on Corruption.

  • German Competition Law May Herald New Enforcement Trend

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    The recent amendment to the German Act against Restraints of Competition is expected to significantly expand the powers of the German Federal Cartel Office, and could signal a global trend toward greater direct intervention by national competition authorities and political interference in competition law, say lawyers at Simmons & Simmons.

  • New Financial Services Act Leaves Few Firms Untouched

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    The recently published Financial Services and Markets Act 2023, which replaces retained EU law with U.K. legislation, is one of the most significant pieces of post-Brexit regulation, with key practical implications for actors such as investment firms and crypto-asset and payment service providers, say Tim Cant, Emma Tran and Bisola Williams at Ashurst.

  • FCA 'De-Banking' Clampdown May Need Gov't Backing

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    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.

  • UK Securitization Reform Opts For Modest Approach, For Now

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    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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