Financial Services UK

  • September 17, 2024

    Top UK Banks Push Payments Infrastructure Reform Plan

    The trade body for financial institutions urged U.K. regulators and companies on Tuesday to engage with a new infrastructure for digital payments that is backed by major banks and card providers.

  • September 17, 2024

    Swiss Seize $15M From Bank For 'Serious' Market Violations

    The Swiss financial markets regulator said Tuesday it has seized 12.7 million Swiss francs ($15 million) from Mirabaud & Cie SA after it ruled that the private bank had "seriously violated" the law and breached its anti-money-laundering obligations.

  • September 16, 2024

    DLA Guides Software Biz Netcall On €8.7M Acquisition

    Automation software business Netcall PLC said Monday it has bought Belgian document processing company Parble for €8.7 million ($9.7 million), advised by DLA Piper Belgium, a move it expects will bolster its presence outside the U.K.

  • September 16, 2024

    French EU Commissioner Quits In Dispute With Von Der Leyen

    France's candidate to serve as European Union commissioner for the next five-year mandate resigned abruptly Monday, accusing commission President Ursula von der Leyen of "questionable governance" and of asking France to replace him.

  • September 16, 2024

    UK Banks Push BoE To Collaborate On Payments Innovation

    Britain's leading banks called Monday on the governor of the Bank of England to collaborate with private firms on improving payments innovation, simplifying regulation and infrastructure.

  • September 16, 2024

    Finance Adviser City & Merchant Enters Liquidation After Ban

    The Financial Conduct Authority confirmed Friday that London-based finance adviser City & Merchant Ltd. entered liquidation Sept. 11, months after the watchdog banned it from conducting any regulated activities and cited "serious concerns" around its business.

  • September 16, 2024

    White & Case-Led Fund Manager To Buy Citi Trust For £80M

    JTC PLC said on Monday it has agreed to buy the global fiduciary and trust business from investment banking giant Citigroup Inc. for £80 million ($106 million), as the Jersey-based fund administrator eyes further international expansion of its operations.

  • September 16, 2024

    Kennedys Adds 2 Knowledge Management Pros In London

    Kennedys said on Monday it has boosted its back-office technology and knowledge management teams with the hire of two experienced experts in legal procedures and practices and IT.

  • September 16, 2024

    Burford Capital Adds Chief Development Role In London

    Burford Capital LLC said Monday that it has appointed a legal finance specialist to the newly created role of chief development officer as part of ongoing efforts to expand the legal funder's business in the U.K., the U.S. and beyond.

  • September 16, 2024

    A&O Shearman Hires Finance Pro From Latham In Paris

    A&O Shearman said Monday that it has recruited a leveraged finance expert as a partner from Latham & Watkins LLP in France, adding to a string of recent exits from the U.S. outfit in Europe.

  • September 16, 2024

    7 Million UK Private Sector Workers Facing Pensions Crisis

    The retirement incomes of 40% of employees in the private sector are on track to fail to provide sufficient money to give them a decent standard of living, a report by a think tank said Monday.

  • September 16, 2024

    UniCredit Launches €1.7B Share Buyback After Profit Gains

    UniCredit SpA said Monday that it has kicked off a share buyback worth up to €1.7 billion ($1.9 billion) as the Italian commercial bank moves to reward its shareholders after it reported bumper profits.

  • September 13, 2024

    EU Actors Lobby Hard For Top Jobs in New Commission

    European Union lawmakers and national governments are lobbying intensely to pull top jobs and policy their way as the new European Commission is formed for the next five years.

  • September 13, 2024

    Kennedys Hires Cyber, AI Pro From Addleshaw In London

    Kennedys Law LLP has recruited a data protection, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence specialist from Addleshaw Goddard LLP as a partner in London, with the new arrival saying Friday she made the switch to take advantage of the firm's global reach.

  • September 13, 2024

    Swiss Banks Want Sanctions Review Amid Geopolitical Risk

    The Swiss Banking Association has called for a proactive review of the country's financial sanctions regime as the single most important factor amid "serious negative effects" from geopolitical risk confronting the country's banks.

  • September 13, 2024

    Plane Leaser Avolon To Fly Away With Aircraft Fleet For $5B

    Avolon Ltd. said Friday that it has agreed to buy a portfolio of nearly 120 aircraft indirectly owned by U.S. alternative investment manager Castlelake LP for $5 billion as the aviation leasing giant looks to accelerate its growth.

  • September 13, 2024

    Transport Giants Bid To Ax $14B 'Guilt By Association' Claim

    Emirati logistics giant DP World and a major Russian transport company urged a London judge Friday to stop or trim the $14 billion claim against them from an imprisoned Russian oligarch, as they argued that he was making "guilt by association" allegations.

  • September 13, 2024

    HMRC Seeks Comments On Top-Up Tax Guidance

    HM Revenue & Customs is seeking comments on new draft guidance on the multinational top-up tax as part of implementing the global minimum corporate tax rate.

  • September 13, 2024

    High Court Sanctions £2.2B Deal For Network International

    Middle Eastern payments company Network International Holdings said on Friday that the High Court has sanctioned a £2.2 billion ($2.9 billion) takeover bid from Brookfield Asset Management Ltd.

  • September 13, 2024

    EU Finance Ministers Boycott Hungary Meeting Over Russia

    Most European Union finance ministers protested on Friday against what they see as Hungary's Russia-friendly politics by boycotting a meeting with their EU peers in the country's capital, Budapest.

  • September 13, 2024

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

    This past week in London has seen a football agent sue Chelsea FC after being cleared of allegations he threatened the club’s former director, an ongoing patent dispute between Amgen and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, and a private school in Edinburgh suing Riverstone Insurance over compensation claims tied to historical abuse allegations made by former pupils. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • September 13, 2024

    Freeths Hires McNulty As Pensions Director In London

    Freeths LLP has appointed Sean McNulty, a former legal director at Blake Morgan as a pensions director in its London office, a move it believes will bolster its retirement income business.

  • September 13, 2024

    UK Pensions Lifeboat Sets £100M Levy Amid Calls For Change

    Britain's pensions protection body has said that it is likely to maintain its £100 million ($131 million) levy on the sector for the next financial year, as analysts call for legislative change that would allow the redress program to lower it further.

  • September 13, 2024

    Shell Companies Shuttered By Court For £1.6M COVID Fraud

    The High Court has shut down two connected companies that fraudulently received £1.6 million ($2.1 million) in COVID-19 support loans, a U.K. government agency said Friday.

  • September 13, 2024

    UK Consumer Credit Firms Face New Reporting Requirements

    The Financial Conduct Authority has proposed issuing a new reporting obligation for consumer credit firms as it seeks to prevent harm to consumers earlier and avoid another scandal such as the collapse of London Capital & Finance.

Expert Analysis

  • Audit Regulator Review Has Tips On Climate Metric Reporting

    Author Photo

    The U.K. Financial Reporting Council’s recent review of climate-related metrics and targets in listed companies’ annual reports is an extremely useful guide for issuers considering the quality of their disclosure reporting, with a number of key areas identified as central to further improvement, say lawyers at Bryan Cave.

  • What Russia Case Reveals About UK Sanctions Enforcement

    Author Photo

    The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation recently issued its first enforcement action under the U.K.'s expanded Russia sanctions against a relatively small company for a moderately severe breach — a decision that highlights several questions about the watchdog’s purpose and methods, say Maia Cohen-Lask and Tasha Benkhadra at Corker Binning.

  • Breaking Down The UK's Draft Updates To Prospectus Regime

    While there still may be changes, the U.K.'s near-final draft statutory instrument to update and in some parts replace the current on-shored EU prospectus regime is likely to represent a significant overhaul of the existing regime and may make U.K. capital markets a more attractive venue for listings for issuers, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Italy's Bank-Profits Tax Plan May Become Model For Eurozone

    Author Photo

    If Italy's recently proposed 40% bank-profits tax helps keep its populist coalition government in power, notwithstanding the European Central Bank's legal challenges, the passage could spark a windfall tax trend across the eurozone and even in the U.K., says Cris Cicala at Stinson.

  • Bitcoin Case Highlights Advanced Age Of UK's IP Law

    Author Photo

    An appellate court's recent decision in a case involving the copyright of bitcoin's file format emphasizes the role of copyright protection in software, and also the challenges of applying decades-old laws to new technologies, say Marianna Foerg and Ben Bell at Potter Clarkson.

  • Accountability Is Key To Preventing Miscarriages Of Justice

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Financial Services UK archive.
Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!