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Financial Services UK
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December 09, 2024
Lawyer Fined For Nondisclosures About Mafia-Linked Project
A partner at an Italian firm was fined £50,000 ($64,000) and reprimanded by a London legal disciplinary tribunal Monday after he admitted failing to declare previous findings made against him in Italy and the U.K. related to failed investments in a 'Ndrangheta mafia-linked real estate project.
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December 09, 2024
Reckitt Investors To Test Class-Action Rules In Opioid Case
The Court of Appeal will consider on Tuesday whether shareholders in Reckitt Benckiser and drug company Indivior can pursue litigation linked to America's opioid crisis as a "representative claim" that is similar to a U.S.-style class action.
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December 09, 2024
Labour Appoints Hodge As New Anti-Corruption Czar
The U.K. government announced Monday that Margaret Hodge, a leading campaigner against illicit finance, has been appointed anti-corruption champion in a bid to foster a "hostile environment" for organized crime.
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December 09, 2024
Audit Watchdog Floats Revised Rules For Pension Standards
Britain's accounting watchdog on Monday proposed a series of revisions to the actuarial rules used in the retirement savings sector to reflect recent changes in pension regulations and skyrocketing funding levels of schemes in the U.K.
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December 09, 2024
Ex-BVI Fund Boss Challenges $400M Ponzi Scheme Debt
The former director of a defunct investment fund urged the top appeals court for U.K. overseas territories on Monday to allow him to challenge a decision by its liquidators to accept a $400 million demand by the bankrupt company behind a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme.
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December 09, 2024
Insurer Launches Estate Planning Cover After Tax Changes
Royal London said on Monday that it has launched an insurance product designed to help consumers with their end-of-life planning, as a growing number of estates are set to become subject to inheritance tax after recent government changes.
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December 06, 2024
Allianz Exec Avoids Prison For $7B Investor Fraud
A New York federal judge on Friday declined to sentence a former portfolio manager for Allianz SE's U.S. unit to any time in prison for lying to investors about the riskiness of a group of private investment funds that lost over $7 billion when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
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December 06, 2024
Barclays Investors Get Initial OK For $19M Overissuance Deal
A New York federal judge Friday granted the first green light to a $19.5 million settlement for a class of investors who bought Barclays PLC securities and then claimed the banking giant misled them about its internal controls before selling more than $17.6 billion in securities over its maximum registered amount.
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December 06, 2024
UK Authorities Say Banker's Rights Safe In US Extradition
U.K. and U.S. authorities urged a pair of London judges on Friday to deny an Austrian banker's bid to overturn a decision allowing his extradition on money laundering charges linked to his alleged role in a massive Brazilian corruption scandal, saying prosecutors would abide by extradition treaties.
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December 06, 2024
Car-Leasing Execs Deny Fraud Charges In £88 million Case
Two directors of a failed car leasing group denied fraud charges in a London court Friday in the face of a prosecution brought by the Serious Fraud Office, which says that their allegedly fraudulent statements attracted £88 million ($112 million) from investors.
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December 06, 2024
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London
This past week in London has seen Burberry file a copyright claim against discount store B&M, the former owner of Charlton Athletic file a debt claim against the football club, and British Airways and the U.K. government face a class action brought by flight passengers taken hostage at the start of the First Gulf War. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.
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December 06, 2024
BonelliErede Adds 2 Private Equity Partners From Chiomenti
BonelliErede has hired two experienced private-equity specialists as partners, as the Italian law firm looks to capture a greater slice of the growing market both domestically and abroad.
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December 06, 2024
SRA Seeks To Be Joined As Creditor After Axiom Collapse
The English solicitors' watchdog asked a London court on Friday to allow it to be added to the list of creditors to Axiom Ince Ltd., the law firm that collapsed after its managing partner allegedly misappropriated £65 million ($83 million) of client money.
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December 06, 2024
Businessman Owing £80M Gets Prison For Obstructing SFO
A London court sentenced a businessman already serving time for fraud to an additional 13 months in prison Friday for obstructing investigators trying to claw back some of the £80 million ($102 million) he owes for stealing from a software company.
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December 06, 2024
UK Asset Managers Get More Time For Sustainability Reports
The Financial Conduct Authority proposed Friday to allow asset managers using a sustainability label an extra four months to produce the first required annual product-level sustainability report.
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December 06, 2024
New Tool Rolled Out To Help Firms Meet Consumer Duty Rules
A nonprofit organization has rolled out a free tool designed to help financial services companies measure how well they are complying with the Financial Conduct Authority's Consumer Duty rules.
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December 06, 2024
FCA Bosses To Face Treasury Panel After Bruising Month
The Financial Conduct Authority's top brass will be quizzed by an influential panel of lawmakers on Tuesday, hard on the heels of a series of setbacks that saw the regulator rowing back on controversial reforms and called "incompetent" in a parliamentary review.
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December 06, 2024
Direct Line Tentatively Accepts Aviva's Higher £3.6B Offer
Direct Line said Friday it has accepted an improved £3.6 billion ($4.6 billion) cash-and-shares takeover offer from Aviva but cautioned that the deal is not final until its British insurance rival makes a firm offer by a deadline of Dec. 25.
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December 05, 2024
Ex-Goldman Manager Wins Paternity Leave Sex Bias Claim
An employment tribunal has ruled that Goldman Sachs discriminated against a former compliance manager, finding that the investment bank decided to make him redundant while he was on paternity leave.
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December 05, 2024
PIC Insurance Co. Must Hand Control To Founder's Estate
The top appeals court for U.K. overseas territories upheld Thursday a finding that an Antiguan insurance company's board of directors was wrong to refuse to hand majority control of the business to its founder's estate.
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December 05, 2024
HMRC Wins Freezing Order Over Alleged £171M Tax Fraud
A court imposed a freezing order against three British businesses on Thursday after the U.K. tax authority accused them of orchestrating a £171 million ($218 million) National Insurance fraud.
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December 05, 2024
Gold Trader Denies Knowing Of £200M Laundering Scheme
The former director of a gold trading business has denied any knowledge of a £200 million ($255 million) money laundering scheme as he testified at a criminal trial on Thursday that the business needed informal arrangements to get access to ready cash.
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December 05, 2024
EU Fund Managers Seek More Flexible Securitization Rules
European fund managers called Thursday for the securitization regime under review to switch to less specific rules, arguing that investors in such products are sophisticated and already regulated.
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December 05, 2024
Pension Funding Is 'Largely Stable,' Lifeboat Fund Says
The net funding position of defined benefit pension schemes in Britain has remained "largely stable" over the last year, the Pension Protection Fund said in a report Thursday.
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December 05, 2024
FSB Names Insurers To Apply Resolution Standards
A global standard setter published on Thursday a first list of insurers required to apply its standards in preparing for failure, aiming to reassure markets.
Expert Analysis
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Accountability Is Key To Preventing Miscarriages Of Justice
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.
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4 Compliance Considerations Under FCA Consumer Duty
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.
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What Could Come Of CFPB, EU Consumer Finance Collab
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.
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6 Key Factors For Successful Cross-Border Dispute Mediation
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.
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Operational Resilience Considerations In Financial Services
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.
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UK Tech Cases Warn Of Liability Clause Drafting Pitfalls
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.
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How The UK Investment Screening Regime Is Taking Shape
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.
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Consultations Underpin Mandatory Fraud Victim Repayment
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.
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Swiss Privacy Law Reforms Present Divergences From GDPR
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.
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New Legislation May Not Be Needed For Recovery Of Crypto
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.
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Opinion
Russia Ruling Should Lead UK To Review Sanctions Policy
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.
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German Competition Law May Herald New Enforcement Trend
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.
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New Financial Services Act Leaves Few Firms Untouched
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.
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FCA 'De-Banking' Clampdown May Need Gov't Backing
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.
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UK Securitization Reform Opts For Modest Approach, For Now
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.