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Financial Services UK
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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.
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May 14, 2024
EU Watchdog Sets Anti-Greenwashing Guidelines For Funds
The European Union's markets regulator on Tuesday published its final guidelines for firms using ESG terms in fund names, requiring 80% of the fund's investments to match the claimed criteria to combat greenwashing risk.
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May 14, 2024
Gov't To Add Legal Powers, Staff To Stop Benefits Fraud
The Department for Work and Pensions said Tuesday it will support new legislation to expand its powers to make arrests and conduct searches in its crackdown on benefits fraud.
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May 14, 2024
EU Finance Ministers Strike Deal On Withholding Tax Refunds
European Union finance ministers agreed Tuesday to a withholding tax refund law, as previous holdouts Poland and the Czech Republic withdrew their objections.
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May 14, 2024
UK Pension Scheme Funding Edges Up £2.8B
The overall funding level of U.K. pension schemes edged up £2.8 billion ($3.5 billion) last month, according to official figures Tuesday, but experts warned that there was potential "volatility" on the horizon amid uncertainty over whether interest rates will change this year.
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May 14, 2024
Repository Denies Withholding Investment Data From Fund
A securitization repository has denied "capriciously" withholding investment data from an investment fund, claiming that it never received a request for the information and did not know the fund existed.
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May 14, 2024
ATM Network Accuses Stripe Of Infringing 'Link' TMs
The main ATM network in the U.K. has accused Stripe of infringing its trademarks and hijacking its reputation by providing a payments system under the "Link" name, telling a court that consumers associate this branding with the cash machine system in Britain.
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May 13, 2024
Irked Autonomy Judge Vents On HP Fraud Trial's Slow Pace
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer on Monday blasted lawyers for the government and two former Autonomy Corp. PLC executives in a criminal fraud case over the trial's slow progress, saying he's "annoyed," but also "complicit" because he "did not take more of a controlling posture."
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May 13, 2024
JP Morgan Battles Viva Wallet Founder Over Buyout Value
J.P. Morgan International Finance Ltd. urged a London judge Monday to reject a payment company's "nonsensical" case over the investment bank's option to buy out its partner's stake in a joint venture fintech business.
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May 13, 2024
Barclays Can Keep $148M Russian Swaps Dispute In London
Barclays has secured a permanent London court order preventing sanctioned Russian state investment company VEB from taking its $147.7 million swaps dispute with the bank away from the U.K. to an arbitration court in Moscow.
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May 13, 2024
Warning On Surge In Mortgages Going Beyond Retirement
Almost half of new mortgages issued in Britain toward the end of 2023 reach beyond the state pension age, figures published on Monday show, raising the risk of an impending retirement crisis.
Expert Analysis
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FCA Promotions Review Sends A Strong Message To Firms
The recent FCA review into firms' compliance with the rules on promoting high-risk investments to retail clients clarifies that it expects the letter and the spirit of the rules to be followed, and given the interplay with the consumer duty, there are wider implications at stake, say Marina Reason and Chris Hurn at Herbert Smith.
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When Can Bonuses Be Clawed Back?
The High Court's recent decision in Steel v. Spencer should remind employees that the contractual conditions surrounding bonuses and the timing of any resignation must be carefully considered, as in certain circumstances, bonuses can and are being successfully clawed back by employers, say Merrill April and Rachael Parker at CM Murray.
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The State Of UK Litigation Funding After Therium Ruling
The recent English High Court decision in Therium v. Bugsby Property has provided a glimmer of hope for litigation funders about how courts will interpret this summer's U.K. Supreme Court ruling that called funding agreements impermissible, suggesting that its adverse effects may be mitigated, says Daniel Williams at DWF Law.
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UK Shareholding Report A Missed Opportunity For New Tech
The recommendations in the U.K. Digitization Taskforce's recent report on digitizing and improving the U.K. shareholding framework are moderate but not revolutionary, and its failure to recommend digital ledger technology will impede a full transformation of the system, say Tom Bacon and Andrew Tsang at BCLP.
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Tools M&A Deal Makers Can Use To Bridge Valuation Gaps
As macroeconomic headwinds reset valuation expectations, parties to merger and acquisition are increasingly looking to methods such as earnouts, vendor financing and minority transactions to bridge the valuation gap and get deals done, says Philip Herbst at Cleary.
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Navigating The Novel Challenges Facing The Legal Profession
The increasing prominence of ESG and AI have transformed the legal landscape and represent new opportunities for lawyers, but with evolving regulations and the ever-expanding reach of the Solicitors Regulation Authority, law firms should ensure that they have appropriate policies in place to adapt to these challenges, say Scott Ashby and Aimee Talbot at RPC.
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Deal Over Jets Stranded In Russia May Serve As Blueprint
In the face of a pending "mega-trial" over leased airplanes held in Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, a settlement between leading aviation lessor AerCap Holdings NV and NSK, the Russian state-controlled insurance company, could pave the way for similar deals, say Samantha Zaozirny and Timeyin Pinnick at Browne Jacobson.
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Economic Crime Act Brings Changes For Limited Partnerships
The recently passed Economic Crime Act introduces significant financial transparency obligations for new and existing U.K. limited partnerships, and with criminal consequences for noncompliance, a degree of advance consideration is strongly advised, say Amelia Stawpert and Alex Jones at Hogan Lovells.
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ESMA Report Offers A Glimpse At EU's Securitization Future
The European Securities and Markets Authority’s recent overview of the EU securitization sector suggests a growing market for both investors and businesses and offers useful insight into future regulatory priorities, says Alan Bunbury at Matheson.
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What The Auto-Enrollment Law Means For UK Workforce
In a welcome step to enhance retirement savings, the U.K. government is set to extend the automatic enrollment regime by lowering the eligibility age and reducing the lower qualifying earnings limit, but addressing workers' immediate financial needs remains a challenge, says Beth Brown at Arc Pensions.
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UAE Bank Case Offers Lessons On Enforcing Foreign Rulings
The High Court recently clarified in Invest Bank v. El-Husseini that foreign judgment debts may be enforceable in England, despite being unenforceable in their jurisdiction of origin, which should remind practitioners that foreign judgments will be recognized in England if they are final and conclusive in their court of origin, say lawyers at Macfarlanes.
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Revised OECD Guidelines Key In Shaping Business Standards
The OECD’s recent revised guidelines on responsible business conduct, supported by a domestic government agencies’ grievance referral mechanism, have already influenced EU due diligence standards, and enterprises engaging in the unique procedure will benefit from case-specific nuances, parallel proceedings and the availability of confidentiality protections, say lawyers at Debevoise.
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Libor Fallback To Prime May Increase Corporate Loan Costs
Despite preparations and legislative actions related to the transition away from Libor earlier this year, there remains a contingent of corporate borrowers that have fallen through the cracks and could face increased costs if their loans default to prime rates, say Nathan Moore and Dana Bradley at WilmerHale.
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Report Can Aid With Sustainable Finance Disclosure Filings
The European Supervisory Authorities recently issued a report on companies' consideration of the principal adverse impacts of their investment decisions on sustainability factors, providing examples of good and bad disclosure practices under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, which firms should note in their future reporting, say lawyers at Debevoise.
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Protecting The Arbitral Process In Russia-Related Disputes
Four recent High Court and Court of Appeal rulings concerning anti-suit injunction claims illustrate that companies exposed to litigation risk in Russia may need to carefully consider how to best protect their interests and the arbitral process with regard to a Russian counterparty, say lawyers at Linklaters.