Financial Services UK

  • February 16, 2024

    Ex-SFO Prosecutor, Disputes Chief Join Paul Hastings

    Paul Hastings LLP has hired former senior Serious Fraud Office prosecutor Stuart Alford KC from Latham & Watkins LLP along with the co-chair of Latham's London litigation practice, a person with knowledge of the move said Friday.

  • February 16, 2024

    Rusal Drags Abramovich Into Potanin Mining Dispute

    Aluminum giant Rusal has successfully dragged Roman Abramovich into its legal action against another oligarch over alleged breaches of an agreement setting out the governance of a Russian mining company, with a London judge ruling Friday that the claims should be heard together.

  • February 16, 2024

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

    This past week in London has seen a legal battle erupt between JPMorgan and the founder of a Greek payments company following a dispute over the valuation of their jointly owned fintech business, the children of late Russian oligarch Vladimir Scherbakov face a claim by Fieldfisher LLP, the Director of Education and Training at the Solicitors Regulation Authority tackle a claim by two solicitors, and train operator First MTR South Western Trains file a claim against a security company. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • February 16, 2024

    Lawyers Advising PE On Alternative Exits Amid Market Slump

    Private equity firms have turned to their lawyers to find creative solutions for realizing cash for investors as deals activity in the IPO market in London remains sluggish — such as setting up continuation funds, making partial sales or working creatively with debt.

  • February 16, 2024

    Illegal Lender Imprisoned For Refusing To Pay Back Victims

    An illegal moneylender has been sentenced to almost eight years in prison for failing to pay a £5.1 million ($6.4 million) confiscation order to compensate victims he charged exorbitant interest rates for small loans, the finance watchdog said on Friday.

  • February 16, 2024

    NatWest Plans £300M Buyback After Earnings Jump

    NatWest Group PLC said Friday that it is planning to buy back up to £300 million ($380 million) of its shares in 2024 through an on-market program, as it reported a 20% increase in operating profit for 2023.

  • February 16, 2024

    Stephenson Harwood Hires Regulatory Pro In Corporate Boost

    Stephenson Harwood LLP has appointed regulatory lawyer Christophe Boucherie as a partner in its London office, a move it believes will strengthen its corporate practice.

  • February 16, 2024

    UK Pension Annuity Sales Hit £5.2B In 2023, ABI Says

    The total value of pension annuities for consumers jumped by almost 50% to £5.2 billion ($6.6 billion) in 2023, a trade body said Friday, a rise fueled in part by rising interest rates.

  • February 16, 2024

    Claims Managers Are Clouding Regulatory Status, FCA Warns

    Claims management companies are failing to distinguish between regulated and unregulated activity, which can mislead consumers into thinking that it all enjoys the same protection, according to a review by the Financial Conduct Authority.

  • February 16, 2024

    Ex-Goldman Sachs Banker Gets 22 Months For Insider Dealing

    A former Goldman Sachs banker was sentenced at a London court on Friday to 22 months in prison for insider dealing after he was convicted of using price-sensitive information gleaned from his job at the investment bank to trade in company shares.

  • February 15, 2024

    JP Morgan And Viva Wallet Founder Sue Each Other

    J. P. Morgan and the founder of a Greek payment company co-owned by the investment bank have filed legal claims against each other in London in a dispute over the value of the fintech business.

  • February 15, 2024

    Collapsed Pension Fund Claws Back £1.9M Lost In Fraud

    The liquidators of a pension fund said they have clawed back £1.9 million ($2.4 million) as part of their long-running quest to recover many millions of pounds of investors' pension savings lost to an elaborate fraud.

  • February 15, 2024

    City Lobby Calls For Tax Cuts, Investment Reform In Budget

    The U.K. government should cut taxes on banking, make it easier for firms to list as public companies and create a new investment office to boost competitiveness, according to a leading financial lobby.

  • February 15, 2024

    Bitcoin 'Inventor' Mentioned Blockchain in 2008, Witness Says

    A former business associate of Craig Wright told a London court Thursday that he believes Wright's claim to be the inventor of bitcoin is "feasible" based on conversations he remembers dating back to the 2000s.

  • February 15, 2024

    FCA Quizzes Top Firms On Advice Services Fees

    The Financial Conduct Authority said Thursday it has written to 20 of the largest financial adviser firms to gauge how those businesses charge clients after giving advice amid its broader focus on ensuring customers are treated fairly.

  • February 15, 2024

    Osborne Clarke Steers £114M Standard Life Pension Deal

    Standard Life said Thursday that it has completed a £114 million ($143 million) buy-in transaction guided by Osborne Clarke LLP to acquire the pensions of around 1,800 members of the Vector Pension Scheme.

  • February 15, 2024

    UK Gov't Asks Financial Regulators To Review AI Policing

    The government said on Thursday that it has told financial markets regulators to publish an update by April 30 on how they will police artificial intelligence.

  • February 15, 2024

    Ex-Goldman Sachs Banker Guilty Of Insider Dealing

    A former Goldman Sachs banker was convicted of insider dealing by a London jury on Thursday, over allegations he used his price-sensitive information gleaned from his job at the investment bank to trade in company shares.

  • February 15, 2024

    Fintech Expert Appointed To FCA Board For 3-Year Term

    HM Treasury said Thursday it had appointed Bryan Zhang, an expert in financial technology and open banking, to the Financial Conduct Authority's non-executive board for an initial term of three years.

  • February 15, 2024

    Addleshaw Goddard Adds BoE Deputy GC To Finance Team

    Addleshaw Goddard said on Thursday that it has hired the Bank of England's deputy general counsel as a partner to bolster its financial services regulation team in London.

  • February 14, 2024

    5 Key Takeaways From The SFO Director's Maiden Speech

    Serious Fraud Office director Nick Ephgrave has signaled his desire to carry out more dawn raids, use more intelligence and pay whistleblowers to carry out swifter investigations. Here, lawyers tell Law360 that it is a return to an old-fashioned approach to enforcement.

  • February 14, 2024

    Madagascar Official 'Never' Sought Bribes For Gem Deal

    A former top aide to Madagascar's president denied asking for bribes to secure mining rights for a U.K. company, saying at her London trial Wednesday that she wanted to "deploy all her energy" to ensure the deal happened.

  • February 14, 2024

    Visa, Mastercard Accused Of Anticompetitive 'Floor' In Fees

    A group of merchants argued on Wednesday that Visa and Mastercard breach antitrust laws when they charge interchange fees and impose rules on some card schemes, saying that they are anticompetitive because there is no fair negotiation.

  • February 14, 2024

    FCA Arrests Insider Dealing Suspects At London Homes

    U.K. investigators arrested three individuals in London on suspicion of insider dealing, conspiracy to insider deal and money laundering linked to organized crime, the financial watchdog said Wednesday.

  • February 14, 2024

    BDO Sues Insurance Broker Over Unpaid M&A Advisory Fee

    Accounting firm BDO LLP has sued KGJ Insurance Services and three of its directors over claims they failed to pay out for the advisory services BDO provided the insurance broker as it looked for a new buyer.

Expert Analysis

  • The FTX Fallout So Far And What May Come Next

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    While the downfall of FTX is likely to cause substantial losses and lead to extensive litigation, it will hopefully precipitate a renewed focus on regulating the crypto market in a responsible way that gives more protection to consumers, says Dan Wyatt at RPC.

  • A Look At The Swath Of Claims Amazon Faces Worldwide

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    The increasing number of claims against Amazon may well be a sign of the EU regulatory regime on the horizon for digital gatekeepers and the developing area of collective proceedings in the U.K., says David Greene at Edwin Coe.

  • Link Ruling Shows FCA's Wide Change-In-Control Powers

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    The Financial Conduct Authority's recent decision regarding the proposed acquisition of Link Fund Solutions is a reminder that the regulator has significant powers to attach conditions to its approvals and the advent of the Financial Services and Markets Bill could lead to the widening of those powers, say Charlotte Hill and Daniel Hirschfield at Taylor Wessing.

  • Understanding The EU's New Foreign Subsidies Regulation

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    The European Parliament’s newly adopted Foreign Subsidies Regulation extends already wide-ranging European Union state aid powers and adds new layers of deal conditionality, so companies will need to carefully consider how the regulation may affect their EU-bound activities, say Peter Camesasca and Sophie Bertin at Covington.

  • Hard Insurance Market Will Influence Legal Industry, Economy

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    As the cost of claims starts to outstrip the value of premiums, insurers are denying more claims and considering scaling back coverage, leading to an influx of legal work and potential holes in the market, says Bruce Hepburn at Mactavish.

  • Digital Nomads: Key Considerations For Global Businesses

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    As employers and employees embrace remote, location-independent work arrangements enabled by technology, they must be mindful of the employment law and tax consequences such arrangements may trigger, say Hannah Wilkins and Audrey Elliott at Eversheds Sutherland.

  • Navigating Newly Expanded English Jurisdictional Gateways

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    With a recent significant change, the English courts' territorial jurisdiction is now primarily controlled by the question of whether England is the proper place to bring the claim, so parties to cross-border disputes seeking to resist the jurisdiction of the English courts should focus their arguments on this battleground, say Antony Corsi and Gill Davy at Norton Rose.

  • New License Eases Sanctioned Clients' Legal Fee Payments

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    The general license recently issued by the U.K. Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation permitting the payment of legal fees owed by a sanctioned company or individual will potentially reduce the agency's backlog and is welcome news for both lawyers and OFSI staff, say Zulfi Meerza and Syed Rahman at Rahman Ravelli.

  • Preparation Is Key To Businesses Minimizing Cyber Breaches

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    A recently published report by the U.K. Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on organizational experiences of cybersecurity breaches highlights the importance of having breach response policies in place and being able to demonstrate that reasonable preventive and risk management steps were taken, says Lawson Caisley at White & Case.

  • Scope Of Brexit Freedoms Bill Unclear For Financial Services

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    The revocation provisions of the recently published Brexit Freedoms Bill do not apply to legislation affected by the Financial Services and Markets Bill, and the complex overlay between the two pieces of legislation may lead to uncertainty for the financial services industry, say Barney Reynolds and Thomas Donegan at Shearman.

  • UK Policyholders Can Expect Better COVID Claims Handling

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    The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority recently outlined some best practices for COVID-19 business interruption claims handling, which, along with recent High Court of Justice decisions, will likely lead to faster claims handling and clearer insurer communication, say Gurpreet Sanghera and Charlie Edwards at Simkins.

  • EU Basel III Bank Reforms May Weaken Securities Market

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    Recent proposals from the Council of the European Union's review of Basel III bank capital regulatory reforms did not adopt substantive changes urged by the market for the securitization framework, and may have a dampening effect on the competitiveness of European securitizations, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.

  • What To Expect From EU's Data Governance Act

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    The European Commission's Data Governance Act, which will go into effect next September, marks a clear step forward for data regulation in the EU, but some confusion remains regarding which companies will be considered data intermediation services, say attorneys at Pierstone.

  • FCA Holds The Cards Where Redress Schemes Are Concerned

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    The recent U.K. High Court Amigo Loans decision shows the Financial Conduct Authority's willingness to engage with a proposed redress scheme or oppose it where necessary, and highlights the agency's unique power to allow business to continue in these cases, say Frances Coulson and Christopher Burt at Wedlake Bell.

  • Series

    My Favorite Law Prof: How I Learned To Argue Open-Mindedly

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    Queens College President Frank Wu reflects on how Yale Kamisar’s teaching and guidance at the University of Michigan Law School emphasized a capacity to engage with alternative worldviews and the importance of the ability to argue for both sides of a debate.

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