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Financial Services UK
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May 17, 2024
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London
This past week in London has seen a wave of claims filed against Verity Trustees Ltd., Harley-Davidson hit retailer Next with an intellectual property claim, Turkish e-commerce entrepreneur Demet Mutlu sue her ex-husband and Trendyol co-founder Evren Üçok and the Solicitors Regulation Authority file a claim against the former boss of collapsed law firm Axiom. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.
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May 17, 2024
SEC Can Try To Show Jurisdiction Over German In $3M Claim
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will be allowed to pursue evidence to support its case for disgorgement of $3.3 million in allegedly ill-gotten gains from a German man whose son was implicated in a $150 million pump-and-dump scheme, a federal judge in Boston ruled on Thursday.
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May 17, 2024
Pensioners Lose £80M In Credit Over Submission Errors
The Department for Work and Pensions has said that retirees lost out on £80 million ($102 million) in payments to help top up their weekly income to a minimum level because they submitted inaccurate information about themselves in the last financial year.
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May 17, 2024
FCA Sets Out Consumer Duty Priorities For Closed Products
The Financial Conduct Authority has sent "Dear CEO" letters to multiple financial service firms, setting out its priorities for the July deadline to apply the Consumer Duty guidelines to closed-off products such as old savings accounts or insurance policies.
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May 17, 2024
ABN Amro To Sell Stake In Life Insurance JV Neuflize Vie
BN Amro Bank NV said Friday that its Neuflize OBC French private bank branch has entered "exclusive negotiations" to sell the unit to the insurance subsidiary of BNP Paribas SA to form a strategic partnership in life insurance in France.
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May 17, 2024
Asset Manager Alpha Growth To Buy Insurance Manager
British wealth manager Alpha Growth PLC said Friday that it will buy Guernsey-based insurance management company Jeometri for £450,000 ($569,000) to help it grow its insurance offering across the U.K.
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May 17, 2024
FCA To Weigh 'Sensitive, Emotive Issue' Of Probes Policy
The Financial Conduct Authority has said it "will take time" to consider widespread concerns over its proposals to identify companies or individuals under investigation after lawyers said the move could damage careers.
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May 17, 2024
Ex-Investment Manager Gets 6 Years For £19M Ponzi Scheme
A former investment manager was sentenced to six years in prison on Friday for defrauding hundreds of investors out of £19 million ($24 million) in a Ponzi scheme that prosecutors said helped fuel a lavish lifestyle.
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May 16, 2024
FCA Charges Reality TV Stars Over Risky Investment Ads
The Financial Conduct Authority said Thursday it has charged nine social media influencers and reality TV stars for promoting an unauthorized trading scheme online that dealt with high-risk financial products tied to foreign exchange rates.
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May 16, 2024
Russian Wealth Fund Fails To Curb EU Sanctions
The European Union's General Court has upheld sanctions against a Russian sovereign wealth fund, ruling it is the "archetypal" company for attracting international investors who sustain the country's war in Ukraine.
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May 16, 2024
M&G Accounts Manager Wins £13K Over Resignation Dispute
An accounts manager at M&G PLC has won more than £13,000 ($16,500) after an employment tribunal found that the company wrongly refused to let him see out his 12-week notice period while on garden leave.
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May 16, 2024
Slovenian Bank NLB Bids €400M For Austrian Lender Addiko
A Slovenian bank has tabled a €400 million ($435 million) bid to buy Austria's Addiko, a business lender operating in central and southeastern Europe, as it seeks to expand into new territories.
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May 16, 2024
Nationwide Cited For Compliance Breaches In PPI Market
The competition watchdog said on Thursday it has written to Nationwide Building Society, telling the lender that it had breached the rules by giving clients incorrect information about insurance covering mortgage repayments.
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May 16, 2024
Lithuania PM Wants Frozen Russian Assets To Help Ukraine
Lithuania's prime minister said Thursday that Russia's frozen assets should be used to help Ukraine fight off aggression from its larger neighbor, saying that a recent European decision to use profits from frozen assets should be only a first step.
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May 15, 2024
Taxpayers Let Down By HMRC Digital Service, Says Watchdog
HM Revenue and Customs has let down taxpayers by failing to deliver better online services, according to a report published on Wednesday by the public spending watchdog.
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May 15, 2024
Swiss Seek Feedback On Crypto Information Exchange
Switzerland's executive body, the Federal Council, is seeking feedback from the public on its plan to adopt two Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development standards that will update the country's automatic exchanges of information to account for crypto-assets, it said Wednesday.
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May 15, 2024
Crypto 'Academy' Closed After Probe Into False Assurances
A cryptocurrency firm that "recklessly" persuaded customers to put money into investment plans has been wound up after the government's insolvency agency found that the company had given false assurances and traded without regulatory approval.
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May 15, 2024
Watchdog Warns Bank CEOs Of Inadequate Recovery Plans
The Prudential Regulation Authority told the chief executives of smaller U.K. banks and building societies in a letter on Wednesday that their companies should improve recovery plans, saying that they use insufficiently severe scenarios in testing.
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May 15, 2024
FCA Charges 3 For Alleged £8M Pension Fraud
The Financial Conduct Authority said Wednesday it has charged three consultants over an alleged fraudulent investment scheme in which victims lost £8 million ($10.1 million) of their pension savings.
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May 15, 2024
Experts See Risks In FCA's Soft-Touch Response To AI
The Financial Conduct Authority has so far failed to detail its rules on artificial intelligence and is moving toward a reliance on companies to self-report, putting it at risk of deferring excessively to the sector it regulates, legal experts say.
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May 14, 2024
Autonomy Overstated Revenue Before HP Sale, Jury Hears
Autonomy's reported revenue was overstated by a combined $300 million in the two-and-a-half years before HP acquired it, an accounting expert testified Tuesday in a California criminal trial over claims that Autonomy founder Michael Lynch duped HP into buying his software company for an inflated $11.7 billion price.
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May 14, 2024
Christian Org. Staves Off Same-Sex Bias Trial With $120K Deal
A Christian nonprofit has agreed to pay a Washington job candidate $120,000 to avoid a damages trial on claims it refused to hire her because she was in a same-sex marriage, though it said it would appeal the liability finding against it.
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May 14, 2024
Billionaire's Pilot Cops To Tax Count, Avoids Insider Trial
A pilot from Virginia accused of profiting from stock tips fed to him by British billionaire Joe Lewis on Tuesday copped to dodging taxes on $500,000 of income from Lewis' company, in a plea deal that avoids an insider trading trial.
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May 14, 2024
UK Gov't Rules Out NDA Ban In Harassment Cases
HM Treasury said Tuesday that the U.K. government will not commit to a legislative ban on nondisclosure agreements in harassment cases, rejecting a call from MPs to bring an end to the "abusive use" of NDAs to silence victims.
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May 14, 2024
UniCredit Bids To Toss $69M Plane Payment Sanctions Ruling
UniCredit urged an appeals court on Tuesday to overturn a ruling that it was not reasonable for its London branch to believe it was prohibited from making $69.3 million in payments to three Irish lessors tied to aircraft held in Russia because of Western sanctions.
Expert Analysis
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EEA Equivalence Statement Is Welcomed By Fund Managers
The recent statement confirming European Economic Area equivalence to undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities for U.K. overseas funds regime purposes removes many managers’ concerns in the wake of Brexit, giving a clear pathway out of temporary marketing permissions and easing the transition from one regime to another, says Catherine Weeks at Simmons & Simmons.
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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.