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Financial Services UK
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May 24, 2024
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London
This past week in London has seen an IT engineer seek permission to search a landfill hiding a hard drive supposedly storing millions of pounds in bitcoin, Glencore take on legal action by American Century Investments, gold payment app Glint bring a breach of duty claim against FRP Advisory, and an ongoing dispute between a solicitor and the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.
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May 24, 2024
Banking 'Selfie' Fraudster Gets 3 Years In Prison
A fraudster was handed a three-year prison sentence for making fake applications to obtain loans and pensions potentially losing banks around £178,000 ($227,000), the Crown Prosecution Service announced Friday.
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May 24, 2024
FCA Bans Two Advisers Accused Of Misleading Clients
The Financial Conduct Authority has banned two advisers from working in financial services for "recklessly" exposing pension holders to high-risk investments, the regulator said Friday.
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May 24, 2024
Woman Imprisoned For Laundering From $5B Bitcoin Fraud
A British-Chinese woman was imprisoned for more than six years on Friday at a London court for laundering bitcoin converted from an alleged £5 billion ($6.3 billion) investment fraud.
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May 24, 2024
Addleshaw Guides Coventry's £780M Co-op Bank Deal
Coventry Building Society has formalized plans to buy the Co-operative Bank for £780 million ($990 million), the lenders said in a joint statement Friday, a move they claim will create an institution better equipped to challenge larger high street names.
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May 23, 2024
NY Top Court Revives FanDuel Investors Suit
New York's top appeals court on Thursday revived a suit brought by FanDuel investors who claim they were deprived of profits from a merger, disagreeing with a lower court's interpretation of Scottish law.
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May 23, 2024
White & Case Adds Former A&O Tax Pro In Luxembourg
White & Case LLP announced it has added a tax partner to its Luxembourg office from A&O Shearman who specializes in international and Luxembourg corporate tax law.
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May 23, 2024
Marketer Denies Owing Investors For Flawed Property Scheme
An investment marketer has denied owing care home investors £2.3 million ($2.9 million) after they sank money into a flawed property scheme, claiming it never said the investments were safe.
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May 23, 2024
FSB Spots Weaknesses In Short-Term Funding Markets
The Financial Stability Board said vulnerabilities used in short-term markets for financing companies need to be addressed because of the risk to the wider financial system in times of crisis such as COVID-19.
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May 23, 2024
Investec Sets Aside £30M For FCA Motor Finance Review
Investec PLC has put aside £30 million ($38 million) as the banking group faces the Financial Conduct Authority's industry-wide motor finance review, according to the company's report for financial year 2024 published Thursday.
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May 23, 2024
Trader Denies Using 'Magic Money Tree' At £1.4B Fraud Trial
Sanjay Shah, a former hedge fund owner who is accused of defrauding Denmark's tax authority out of £1.4 billion ($1.8 billion), denied using a "magic money tree" in his trading at a London court Thursday.
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May 23, 2024
Pension Plans Must Get Handle On Data Quality, TPR Says
Retirement savings plans in the U.K. face increased regulatory scrutiny to ensure that Britain has the best possible standards on safeguarding the personal data of clients, the pensions watchdog has said.
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May 23, 2024
Bank Sues Adviser For £9M In Property Overvaluation Dispute
A U.K. bank has alleged a retail adviser owes it £9.2 million ($11.7 million) for overvaluing a property development and causing it to lend millions of pounds more than it should have.
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May 23, 2024
Tech Resilience Regime Ambiguous, European Banks Say
A trade body representing banks in Europe warned on Thursday that new regulations requiring finance firms to prevent risks arising from cyberattack or systems failure are ambiguous and could create differing approaches to compliance.
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May 23, 2024
FCA Fines HSBC £6.2M For Mistreating Customers In Arrears
The Financial Conduct Authority said Thursday that it has fined HSBC £6.2 million ($7.9 million) for inadequate treatment of customers in financial difficulty.
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May 30, 2024
White & Case Hires 2 Latham Partners In Germany
White & Case LLP has added two partners from Latham & Watkins LLP with more than three decades worth of experience between them in capital markets to its Frankfurt office.
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May 23, 2024
Hargreaves Lansdown Snubs £4.7B Bid From CVC, Abu Dhabi
The board of Hargreaves Lansdown said Thursday that it has rejected a proposed £4.7 billion ($6 billion) takeover offer from a consortium of private equity companies, including CVC and the sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi.
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May 22, 2024
Property Transfer For Tax Break Not Dishonest, UK Court Says
Two liquidated London real estate companies failed to convince the United Kingdom Court of Appeal that their former director behaved dishonestly by transferring their holdings to Jersey trusts for less than market value to obtain a tax advantage, according to a judgment released Wednesday.
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May 22, 2024
HSBC Can't Use Brexit To End UK Role In EU Body, Staff Say
High street lender HSBC is obligated to keep the U.K. arm of its European works council despite Brexit, the representative body for European staff argued Wednesday as it challenged a ruling that the bank could exclude the U.K. once it left the European Economic Area.
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May 22, 2024
Ex-Goldman Banker Gets Contempt Sentence Suspended
A London appellate court on Wednesday chose "the road of mercy rather than justice" and suspended a prison sentence for a former Goldman Sachs banker who breached court orders to hand over information concerning the financial assets of the wife of an imprisoned Turkish politician.
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May 22, 2024
Hilco Exec Wins £296K After Being Sacked For Whistleblowing
A tribunal has awarded a former Hilco Capital Ltd. HR director almost £296,000 ($377,000) in compensation after she was unfairly sacked for blowing the whistle over alleged banking irregularities.
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May 22, 2024
UK Gov't Calls Elections For July 4 Despite Poor Polls
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday called an early general election to be held on July 4, advancing the electoral timetable even though his Conservative Party lags decisively behind the opposition Labour Party.
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May 22, 2024
City Group Warns Financial Fraud Still Major Problem
A City trade body for financial institutions said Tuesday that payment fraud remains a major problem, with criminals stealing more than £1 billion ($1.27 billion) in 2023, shifting into growth areas such as mobile banking.
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May 22, 2024
Swiss Gov't Adopts Proposals For Tougher AML Laws
Switzerland on Wednesday approved a new anti-money laundering framework that will introduce a register in which companies and other legal entities in the country will have to disclose information on their beneficial owners in a major shift in its anti-money laundering rules.
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May 22, 2024
UK Dependency To Implement Pillar 2 Starting In 2025
The island of Jersey, a U.K. crown dependency, said it would implement the international minimum tax for large corporations known as Pillar Two, with the law taking effect next year.
Expert Analysis
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What To Know About The Russia-Stranded Plane Ruling
The High Court's recent decision in Zephyrus Capital Aviation v. Fidelis Underwriting, rejecting reinsurers' U.K. jurisdiction challenges in claims over stranded planes in Russia, has broad implications for cross-border litigation involving exclusive jurisdiction clauses, says Samantha Zaozirny at Browne Jacobson.
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3 Notable Pensions Reforms In Spring Budget
The U.K. government’s spring budget introduced reforms to improve pension outcomes through the value for money framework and the lifetime provider model, as well as to encourage investments in Britain — three interlinked areas that could pressure trustees and providers to rethink how they approach investments, say Liz Ramsaran and Marcus Fink at DWF.
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Assessing The FCA Data Study's Response To User Concerns
The Financial Conduct Authority’s recently published report on the supply of wholesale financial data differs from others in its exceptional breadth and analysis of an enormous volume of information, but in its reluctance to address market power or pricing directly, the regulator’s approach is still cautious, say Emma Radcliffe and Greg Dowell at Macfarlanes.
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Focus On Private Funds Will Boost Ireland's Global Standing
As the market increasingly pivots to private funds, Ireland's recent introduction of particular products — such as an updated, flexible European long-term investment fund — provides more structuring opportunities and paves the way for a brighter outlook in the country, say lawyers at Dechert.
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Cum-Ex Prosecutions Storm Shows No Sign Of Abating
The ongoing trial of Sanjay Shah in Denmark is a clear indicator that efforts remain focused on holding to account the alleged architects and beneficiaries of cum-ex trading, and with these prosecutions making their way across Europe, it is a more turbulent time now than ever, says Niall Hearty at Rahman Ravelli.
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Traversing The Web Of Nonjudicial Grievance Mechanisms
Attorneys at Covington provide an overview of how companies can best align their environmental and human rights compliance with "hard-law" requirements like the EU's recently approved Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive while also navigating the complex global network of existing nonjudicial grievance mechanisms.
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Opinion
FCA Greenwashing Rules Need To Be Stronger To Be Effective
The Financial Conduct Authority's forthcoming anti-greenwashing measures, aimed at ensuring the veracity of regulated entities’ statements about sustainability credentials, need external scrutiny and an effective definition of "corporate social responsibility" to give them bite, says Jingchen Zhao at Nottingham Trent University.
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EU Ruling Exposes Sovereignty Fissures In Int'l Arbitration
The European Court of Justice's recent ruling that the U.K. had breached EU law by allowing an arbitral award to proceed underscores the diminished influence of EU jurisprudence in the U.K., hinting at the EU courts' increasingly nominal sway in international arbitration within jurisdictions that prize legal autonomy, says Josep Galvez at 4-5 Gray’s Inn.
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Companies House False Filings Raise Issues Of Integrity
A recent spate of unauthorized company filings with Companies House raises specific concerns for secured lenders, but also highlights the potential for false filings to be used to facilitate fraudulent schemes, says Daniel Sullivan at Charles Russell.
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UK Courts Continue To Struggle With Crypto-Asset Cases
Although the common law has proved capable of applying established principles to crypto-assets, recent cases highlight persistent challenges in identifying defendants, locating assets and determining jurisdiction, suggesting that any meaningful development will likely come from legislative or regulatory change, say Emily Saunderson and Sam Mitchell at Quadrant Chambers.
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Comparing The UK And EU Approaches To AI Regulation
While there are significant points of convergence between the recently published U.K. approach to artificial intelligence regulation and the EU AI Act, there is also notable divergence between them, and it appears that the U.K. will remain a less regulatory environment for AI in the foreseeable future, say lawyers at Steptoe.
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Lessons On Using 3rd-Party Disclosure Orders In Fraud Cases
The expansion of the gateway for service out of jurisdiction regarding third-party information orders has proven to be an effective tool against fraud since it was introduced in 2022, and recent case law offers practical tips on what applicants should be aware of when submitting such orders, says Rosie Wild at Cooke Young.
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A Look At The Latest EU Alternative Investment Regulation
Recent amendments to the EU Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive governing a range of alternative investment funds reflect a growing regulatory focus on nonbanking financial institutions, which expand credit to support economic growth but carry a commensurate risk, say Juliette Mills and Alix Prentice at Cadwalader.
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Unpacking The Law Commission's Digital Assets Consultation
The Law Commission recently published a consultation on recognizing a third personal property category to accommodate the development of digital assets, highlighting difficulties with current models of property rights and the potential consequences of considering digital assets as personal property, say Andrew Tsang and Tom Bacon at BCLP.
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Unpacking The FCA's Approach To AML Compliance Failures
In light of the upward trend of skilled-person reviews by the Financial Conduct Authority, including the latest investigation into Lloyds' anti-money laundering controls, financial firms should familiarize themselves with the mechanisms of FCA supervision and enforcement investigations, says Kathryn Westmore at RUSI.