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Financial Services UK
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October 17, 2024
Equip FCA And BoE For Green Transition Finance, Study Says
The U.K.'s financial watchdogs need to be equipped to help with green transition financing, a government-sponsored study said Thursday.
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October 17, 2024
Government Sets Out Plan To Regulate Buy Now, Pay Later
HM Treasury set out plans Thursday to protect millions of people using buy now, pay later products through legislation that will lead to a new regulatory regime run by the Financial Conduct Authority.
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October 17, 2024
Macfarlanes-Led Dignity To Acquire Farewill For £12.9M
Investment company Castelnau Group said Thursday that its funeral business Dignity has agreed to acquire its competitor Farewill Ltd. at an enterprise value of £12.9 million ($16.8 million).
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October 24, 2024
Weil Hires Private Funds Pro From Cleary
Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP has added a private funds expert to its London team, as the firm moves to bolster its offering in the growing private capital sector.
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October 17, 2024
Insurer Launches UK's 1st Cybercrime Recovery Service
Digital risk insurer Coalition has launched what it says is the U.K.'s first dedicated service for recovering cash stolen from cyberattacks — and has already recouped £1.4 million ($1.8 million) for a law firm.
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October 17, 2024
Vestager Urges EU Politicians To Push Ahead With Pillar 1
European Union competition chief Margrethe Vestager urged EU politicians Thursday to push ahead with work to finalize the Pillar One plan to redistribute taxing rights among countries.
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October 17, 2024
BOE To Simplify Banking Rules To Boost Growth
The Prudential Regulation Authority said Thursday that it intends to simplify key policy reforms introduced after the 2008 financial crisis that were designed to make bankers more accountable for wrongdoing or failings under their watch.
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October 17, 2024
VC Firm Denies Failing Putin's Ex-Son-In-Law's Divorcee
A venture capital firm has denied owing the ex-wife of Vladimir Putin's former son-in-law a £1.1 million ($1.4 million) refund for allegedly valueless help with securing her $60 million prenuptial agreement, claiming it spent hundreds of hours working for her.
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October 17, 2024
Nordea To Kick Start €250M Buyback After ECB Greenlight
Nordea Bank Abp said Thursday it plans to begin a share repurchase scheme of up to €250 million ($271 million) after getting the go-ahead from the European Central Bank.
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October 17, 2024
StanChart Libor Decision Splits Bank And Investor Interests
The High Court's landmark decision allowing Standard Chartered to use an alternative to Libor has provided certainty to contracts that fail to provide for the abolition of the benchmark rate, but gives investors less flexibility than they might consider the wording provides.
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October 17, 2024
Pensions Watchdog To Extend Professional Trustee Oversight
Britain's retirement savings watchdog has confirmed that it will extend its regulatory approach with professional trustee firms amid significant growth in the sector.
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October 17, 2024
Daily Mail Withdraws Articles In Privacy Battle With Tax Pro
The publisher of the Daily Mail will withdraw articles about an Alvarez & Marsal managing director's relationship with a billionaire, a lawyer for the senior tax professional told a London court on Thursday.
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October 17, 2024
FCA Launches AI Lab To Boost Fintech Innovation
Britain's financial watchdog unveiled Thursday its new artificial intelligence lab, which aims to help firms develop and deploy AI solutions in the financial sector and better understand the technology's impact.
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October 17, 2024
Barclays, NCA Lead Data Project To Target Sexual Exploitation
Barclays Bank and the National Crime Agency are leading a project to tackle sexual exploitation in the U.K. that involves organizations across both the public and private sectors sharing information with the agency to disrupt organized crime.
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October 31, 2024
Dentons Rehires Financial Reg Partner From Pinsent Masons
Dentons has rehired Andrew Barber to join its regulatory and investigations team in the U.K. as financial regulatory partner, at a time of greater oversight from the Financial Conduct Authority.
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October 16, 2024
Banks Ditch Exchange's Boycott Conspiracy Suit At 2nd Circ.
The Second Circuit on Wednesday rejected a small trading exchange's effort to revive its claims that several major banks conspired to shut it out of the credit default swap market, saying the exchange failed to plausibly allege that the banks' conduct was the result of an unlawful agreement or conspiracy.
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October 16, 2024
Companies House Outlines Phased Rollout Of New Powers
Companies House announced Wednesday a two-year timetable for rolling out heightened powers granted under new economic crime legislation that it said will bring the biggest change to its register in over 175 years.
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October 16, 2024
Vanguard Group Nixes Investment Group's TM
Vanguard Group convinced European officials to nix a trademark for "VanguardRe," after its Lebanese rival failed to provide any evidence that it had genuinely used the sign to market its insurance services in years.
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October 16, 2024
EU Watchdogs Warn Digital Act Changes Will Hinder Rollout
The European Union's financial market regulators have said amendments proposed by the bloc's executive arm under the Digital Operational Resilience Act around registering information will cause "unnecessary complexity" and hinder the rollout of the legislation.
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October 16, 2024
Fresh Warnings Issued Over FCA Value-For-Money Rules
The Financial Conduct Authority's proposed new assessment of pension schemes' value is so complex it risks failing savers, trade body the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association has warned.
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October 16, 2024
Gov't Launches Taskforce To Combat Spiraling Insurance Cost
The government said Wednesday that it would take on the surging car insurance rates faced by drivers, with a cross-party group of politicians, experts and regulators looking to get to the bottom of the problem.
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October 16, 2024
FCA Launches Probe Into Premium Finance Insurance Market
Britain's finance watchdog said Wednesday that it will investigate premium finance practices over concerns that consumers who pay for cover in installments might not be getting fair deals.
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October 16, 2024
US Fails To Revoke Bail Of Crypto Chief Wanted In Fraud Case
The U.S. government failed on Wednesday to keep the former chief executive of a $7.5 billion crypto-asset business in custody while he fights extradition for allegedly manipulating the market for his company's virtual tokens, as a judge deemed him a low flight risk.
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October 16, 2024
Argentina Denied UK Top Court Appeal In €1.3B Bond Dispute
Argentina cannot dodge paying out on an outstanding €1.3 billion ($1.4 billion) to bondholders after wrongly adjusting the way it calculates yields for government securities after Britain's highest court refused to consider the case.
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October 15, 2024
Wyndham Says Vacation Group Awaze Withheld TM Royalties
Hotel chain operator Wyndham has told a London court that a vacation group that it licensed its trademarks to as part of the purchase of Wyndham's European holiday rentals business cannot unilaterally reduce its royalty payments following an internal reorganization.
Expert Analysis
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In Int'l Arbitration Agreements, Be Clear About Governing Law
A trilogy of recent cases in the English High Court and Court of Appeal highlight the importance of parties agreeing to explicit choice of law language at the outset of an arbitration agreement in order to avoid costly legal skirmishes down the road, say lawyers at Faegre Drinker.
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Crypto As A Coin Of The Corporate Realm: The Pros And Cons
The broadened range of crypto-assets opens up new possibilities for employers looking to recruit, incentivize and retain employees through the use of crypto, but certain risks must be addressed, say Dan Sharman and Sunny Mangatt at Shoosmiths.
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Comparing UK And EU's View On 3rd-Party Service Providers
The U.K. is taking welcome steps to address the lack of direct oversight over critical third-party service providers, and although less onerous than that of the EU Digital Operational Resilience Act, the U.K. regime's proportionate approach is designed to make providers more robust and reliable, say lawyers at Shearman.
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Key Points Of BoE Response To Digital Pound Consultation
Lawyers at Hogan Lovells analyze the recent Bank of England and U.K. government response to a consultation on the launch of a digital pound, finding that the phased approach to evaluating the issues makes sense given the significant potential impact on the U.K. economy.
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Goldman Prosecution Delivers A Clear Sign Of FCA Strength
The recent successful prosecution of a former Goldman Sachs analyst for insider dealing and fraud is a reminder to regulated individuals that economic crime will never be tolerated, and that the Financial Conduct Authority is willing to bare its teeth in the exercise of its prosecutorial remit, says Doug Cherry at Fladgate.
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The Good, The Bad And The New Of The UK Sanctions Regime
Almost six years after the Sanctions and Money Laundering Act was introduced, the U.K. government has published a strategy paper that outlines its focus points and unveils potential changes to the regime, such as a new humanitarian exception for financial sanctions, highlighting the rapid transformation of the U.K. sanctions landscape, says Josef Rybacki at WilmerHale.
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A Look At Environment Agency's New Economic Crime Unit
Sophie Wood at Kingsley Napley explains how the Environment Agency’s newly established Economic Crime Unit will pursue criminal money flows from environmental offenses, and discusses the unit’s civil powers, including the ability to administer account freezing and forfeiture orders, says Sophie Wood at Kingsley Napley.
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Opinion
UK Whistleblowers Flock To The US For Good Reason
The U.K. Serious Fraud Office director recently brought renewed attention to the differences between the U.K. and U.S. whistleblower regimes — differences that may make reporting to U.S. agencies a better and safer option for U.K. whistleblowers, and show why U.K. whistleblower laws need to be improved, say Benjamin Calitri and Kate Reeves at Kohn Kohn.
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4 Legal Privilege Lessons From Dechert Disclosure Ruling
The Court of Appeal's recent decision in Al Sadeq v. Dechert LLP, finding that evidence may have been incorrectly withheld, provides welcome clarification of the scope of legal professional privilege, including the application of the iniquity exception, says Tim Knight at Travers Smith.
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BT Case May Shape UK Class Action Landscape
The first opt-out collective action trial commenced in Le Patourel v. BT in the U.K. Competition Appeal Tribunal last month, regarding BT's abuse of dominance by overcharging millions of customers, will likely provide clarification on damages and funder returns in collective actions, which could significantly affect the class action regime, say lawyers at RPC.
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Key Points From EC Economic Security Screening Initiatives
Lawyers at Herbert Smith analyze the European Commission's five recently announced initiatives aimed at de-risking the EU's trade and investment links with third countries, including the implementation of mandatory screening mechanisms and extending coverage to investments made by EU companies that are controlled subsidiaries of non-EU investors.
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Following The Road Map Toward Quantum Security
With the Financial Conduct Authority’s recent publication of a white paper on a quantum-secure financial sector, firms should begin to consider the quantum transition early — before the process is driven by regulatory obligations — with the goal of developing a cybersecurity architecture that is agile while also allowing for quantum security, say lawyers at Cleary.
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Why EU Ruling On Beneficial Ownership May Affect The UK
Following the EU judgment in Sovim v. Luxembourg that public access to beneficial ownership information conflicts with data protection rights, several British overseas territories and dependencies have recently reversed their commitment to introduce unrestricted access, and challenges to the U.K.’s liberal stance may be on the cards, says Rupert Cullen at Allectus Law.
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Key Changes In FRC Code Aim To Promote Good Governance
The focus of the recently published Financial Reporting Council Corporate Governance Code on risk management and internal controls is to ensure the competitiveness of the U.K. listing regime while not compromising on governance standards, and issuers may wish to consider updating their policies in order to follow best practice, say lawyers at Debevoise.
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Ruling In FCA Case Offers Tips On Flexible Work Requests
In Wilson v. Financial Conduct Authority, the Employment Tribunal recently found that the regulator's rejection of a remote work request was justified, highlighting for employers factors that affect flexible work request outcomes, while emphasizing that individual inquiries should be considered on the specific facts, say Frances Rollin, Ella Tunnell and Kerry Garcia at Stevens & Bolton.