Corporate Crime & Compliance UK

  • June 18, 2026

    FCA Closes Probe Into Drax Biomass Fuel Sourcing Claims

    The finance watchdog said Thursday that it had closed its investigation into Drax Group PLC over its concerns about what the company had told the market about the sustainability of wood it used for biomass fuel.

  • June 18, 2026

    FCA Turns To Early Action As AI Speeds Financial Crime

    The financial regulator has said that it is increasingly using supervisory powers and early intervention to prevent harm before launching formal investigations as technological advances and AI accelerate financial crime.

  • June 17, 2026

    Danish Financier Denied Tax Appeal For Missing Deadline

    A Danish financier and his company can't appeal a decision over a tax bill of over £866,000 ($1.2 million) despite his claim that they face a 200% tax rate, a London tribunal ruled, saying he had no good reason for missing a previous appeal deadline.

  • June 17, 2026

    Lawmakers Table Twin Anti-SLAPP Bills After Reform Delays

    A Conservative lawmaker was set to introduce a private member's bill in the House of Commons on Wednesday aimed at expanding protection against strategic lawsuits against public participation, known as SLAPPs, a day after similar measures were proposed in the House of Lords.

  • June 17, 2026

    Travel Tech Co. Hit With Record £1M Russian Sanctions Fine

    The U.K. government hit travel business Sabre Global Technologies Ltd. with a record £1 million ($1.34 million) fine for repeatedly breaching Russian sanctions by providing services to a sanctioned Russian airline.

  • June 17, 2026

    Former OPEC Head Acquitted In London Bribery Trial

    A former Nigerian oil minister and two alleged associates were cleared by a London jury on Wednesday of accepting or seeking bribes from energy executives.

  • June 17, 2026

    Sweden's Ikano Bank Fined $14.9M For AML Violations

    Sweden's financial services regulator said Wednesday that it had hit Ikano Bank AB with a 140 million Swedish kronor ($14.9 million) fine for violating anti-money laundering regulations.

  • June 17, 2026

    Visa Sued By H&M, Eurostar In Latest Swipe Fees Case

    More than 30 major businesses and institutions including H&M, Heineken and a university have sued Visa at a London court, alleging that the payment card company's fees and rules restricted competition and drove up prices.

  • June 17, 2026

    Audit Watchdog Revamps Enforcement Kit For Early Detection

    The accounting regulator said on Wednesday that it will go ahead with proposals to improve its approach to enforcement, setting out new options such as publishing cases it has pursued, which it said would offer it a "broad and more flexible range of routes to resolution."

  • June 16, 2026

    KC Defends Gardener Trust Deal In £2M Evasion Trial

    A senior barrister accused of cheating the public purse out of almost £2 million ($2.7 million) argued Tuesday that his former gardener perfectly understood that an agreement to be compensated for his services via a trust was not binding.

  • June 16, 2026

    Rathbones Halts New High-Risk Clients After FCA Review

    Wealth manager Rathbones Group PLC said Tuesday that it has paused onboarding new clients that require enhanced due diligence after a regulatory review identified areas of improvement for its consumer duty implementation and certain compliance, oversight and assurance arrangements.

  • June 16, 2026

    Fitch Accused Of Inflating Debt Ratings Before 2008 Crash

    Fitch Ratings secretly adjusted its credit rating models in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis to generate artificially high credit ratings for complex debt investments, motivated by a desire to grow its revenues, an investment firm said in its latest claim against a major rating agency. 

  • June 16, 2026

    Chinese Cos. Save Patent On Banknote Security Strip

    Two Chinese companies have convinced European appellate officials to revive their patent for an embedded security strip used on banknotes and credit cards, handing a loss to a security firm and plastics maker that argued its anti-counterfeiting magnetic strip wasn't new.

  • June 16, 2026

    Russian Shadow Fleet Ship Captain Charged Over Sanctions

    Prosecutors have charged the captain of a Russian shadow fleet oil tanker with circumventing the U.K.'s sanctions after the vessel was seized by special forces in the English Channel on Sunday.

  • June 16, 2026

    FCA Eyes Higher Fines After Setbacks In Staley Case

    The financial regulator has said it plans to hike the fines it imposes on individuals for misconduct following a series of legal setbacks that slashed its sanctions against senior executives. 

  • June 15, 2026

    OnlyFans Software Platform Denies Breaching Antitrust Laws

    An OnlyFans software platform has denied a rival company's claim that it breached competition law by failing to make user data readily available, telling a London court that it was under no obligation to do so.

  • June 15, 2026

    Disqualified Director Jailed For £3M Fraud, Money Laundering

    A company director has been sentenced to four years in prison for diverting more than £3 million ($4 million) through an insolvency fraud and money laundering scheme, the Insolvency Service said.

  • June 15, 2026

    KC Says He Was Entitled To Cut Tax Bill In £2M Evasion Case

    A senior barrister accused of cheating the public purse out of almost £2 million ($2.7 million) told a court on Monday that he was "morally entitled" to pursue a strategy to reduce his tax liability.

  • June 15, 2026

    Tech Firms Urged To Pay Up As UK Fraud Hits £1.3B

    Technology and telecoms companies should be forced to join banks in compensating consumers for payment fraud, the body representing financial institutions in the U.K. said on Monday, as it revealed that criminals stole £1.28 billion ($1.72 billion) in 2025.

  • June 15, 2026

    Pensions Regulator Adds 3 Senior Execs To Its Board

    The government said Monday that it has appointed three new members to the board of the pensions watchdog in a move to bolster its leadership ahead of sweeping reforms that are set to reshape the retirement sector.

  • June 12, 2026

    Businessman Unable To Unmask Source For High-Risk Listing

    A Chinese businessman suspected of financial crime linked to his U.K. property interests lost a bid on Friday to force a London Stock Exchange Group unit to explain how his name appeared on a database of high-risk individuals.

  • June 12, 2026

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

    The past week in London has seen the FCA bring a claim against a fund manager it accused of providing investment services despite having been banned, an Ardmore unit sue a contractor two days before the construction group's collapse, and shipping and cruise giant MSC hit back at an entertainment company following separate intellectual property litigation in the U.S. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • June 12, 2026

    4 Members Of £23M Crypto Money Laundering Ring Jailed

    The leaders of a £23.4 million ($31.3 million) money laundering ring that cleaned money for Irish and Kurdish organized criminals were sentenced to a total of more than 27 years' imprisonment at a London court Friday.

  • June 12, 2026

    Drinks Co. Says $1.1M Wine IP Battle Judgment Won By Fraud

    A U.K. drinks business has accused an American beverage brand creator of obtaining a $1.1 million U.S. court judgment by fraud in a dispute over the British company's purchase of a wine brand.

  • June 12, 2026

    City Police Launch Crackdown On Travel Insurance Fraud

    The U.K.'s financial crime police force said it had arrested a man who had faked his own death to support a fraudulent insurance claim, as part of a national fraud crackdown.

Expert Analysis

  • What Brazil's Adequacy Status Will Mean For EU Data Flow

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    The European Commission’s recent historic decision to grant full adequacy status to Brazil for personal data transfers removes a significant compliance burden for organizations and offers an opportunity to simplify transfer mechanisms, positioning Brazil as a major gateway for EU-Latin America data flows, say lawyers at Gibson Dunn.

  • How UK Securitization Reforms Will Affect Industry

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    The Prudential Regulation Authority’s recent proposals to reform securitization requirements will offer greater structuring flexibility, reduced operational complexity and lower compliance costs, although with the rationale for imposing stand-alone obligations on institutional investors not clear, dissenting voices are likely, say lawyers at Skadden.

  • How EU Reforms May Affect Copyright, AI Balance

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    The European Parliament’s recently proposed resolution calling on the European Commission to address the intersection between copyright and generative artificial intelligence will have implications for companies developing technology, whose compliance costs will soar, and rights holders, for whom great opportunities may lie ahead, says Pasquale Tammaro at BonelliErede.

  • FCA's HTX Action Shows Crypto Ad Rules Must Be Followed

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    The Financial Conduct Authority’s London High Court action against global crypto-exchange HTX for illegally promoting its services to U.K. consumers sends the message that it will pursue those who flout the rules from a distance and will be key in testing the extent of the U.K.’s regulatory perimeter, says Nick Barnard at Corker Binning.

  • UK Territories May Yet Prevail On Ownership Disclosure

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    Despite its recently launched anti-corruption strategy, the U.K. government appears to have little appetite in the short term to impose fully public ownership registers on the overseas territories, a position that will be welcomed by advisers and individuals, says Rupert Cullen at Allectus Law.

  • New Foreign Bribery Guide Can Help Int'l Cos. Identify Risks

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    In light of growing global coordination on anti-bribery enforcement, the International Foreign Bribery Taskforce’s recent guide to foreign bribery indicators represents a step forward in the standardization of factors for evaluating corruption risks that multinational companies should consider, say lawyers at Paul Weiss.

  • FCA Enforcement Newsletter Reflects Shift Toward Openness

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    The Financial Conduct Authority’s inaugural Enforcement Watch newsletter provides clarity on the cases the regulator is opening and highlights its approach to early communication of enforcement activity, offering a welcome insight into its emerging priorities, says David Hamilton at Howard Kennedy.

  • How UK Gov't Proposes To Streamline CMA Regime

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    The Department for Business and Trade’s planned overhaul of the Competition Market Authority’s regime will introduce a series of targeted procedural changes aimed at improving efficiency and engagement, raising questions around procedural safeguards and jurisdictional thresholds, say lawyers at Baker Botts.

  • Decoding Arbitral Disputes: US Cert Denial And EU Strategy

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    The U.S. Supreme Court recently denied certiorari in Russia v. Hulley Enterprises, leaving in place the D.C. Circuit's opinion supporting jurisdiction in the $50 billion arbitration award challenge, and intensifying litigation exposure for the European Union's strategy of contesting the enforceability of intra-EU awards abroad, says Josep Galvez at 4-5 Gray's Inn.

  • Examining EU Data Watchdog's E-Commerce Account Guide

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    Lawyers at Gibson Dunn take a look at the European Data Protection Board’s recently adopted recommendations regarding the mandatory creation of user accounts on e-commerce websites, and address the regulator's assessment of when they may be justified under the General Data Protection Regulation.

  • EU AI Act Conformity Key For Cos. Despite Enforcement Delay

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    The European Data Protection Board-European Data Protection Supervisor’s recent joint opinion, posted in response to the European Commission’s proposal to delay EU Artificial Intelligence Act implementation, captures some of the core worries raised that postponement may affect fundamental rights protections and further undermine legal certainty, say lawyers at ZwillGen.

  • EU Foreign Subsidies Guide Brings Clarity And Questions

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    The European Commission’s long-awaited EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation guidelines provide helpful clarifications for companies, but with many areas remaining broadly framed, uncertainty may continue to deter investments and increase the compliance burden on organizations, say lawyers at Hogan Lovells.

  • FRC Audit Proposals Reaffirm Support For Economic Growth

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    The Financial Report Council’s recent proposals to prioritize audit enforcement, supervision and market reform will reward audit firms that self-police and proactively admit auditing standard breaches, signaling its aims to change the market landscape and encourage investment, say lawyers at RPC.

  • How FCA's Client Reforms May Boost Investment Access

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    The Financial Conduct Authority’s recent proposals to reform the professional client categorization regime and simplify conflicts of interest rules are likely to be welcomed, although firms will need to navigate the increased responsibility that comes with greater flexibility, say lawyers at Skadden.

  • Irish Consumer Law Proposals Expose Concerns Over Privacy

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    The Irish government’s recent proposals to amend and clarify competition and consumer law would allow new investigative powers and greater financial sanctions, leading to concerns from businesses whether the benefits outweigh the privacy risks, says Kate McKenna at Matheson.

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