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The U.K. government’s recent updated guidance for businesses on reporting slavery and human trafficking in supply chains underscores the urgent need for companies to adopt transparent and measurable due diligence practices, reinforcing the broader need for proactive internal investigations into unethical or criminal conduct, say lawyers at Seladore and Matrix Chambers.
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The Financial Conduct Authority’s recent bulletin on the consequences of leaking sensitive information during transactions, warning that such disclosure may result in market abuse allegations, demonstrates the regulator’s determination to root out and penalize insider dealing, say lawyers at Cadwalader.
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The recent creation of an anti-corruption task force by the U.K., France and Switzerland demonstrates a commitment to tackling bribery within national and international frameworks, and organizations within these jurisdictions’ remit, including U.S. companies operating in Europe, should review their compliance practices to ensure they address diverging requirements, say lawyers at Skadden.
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The Financial Conduct Authority’s latest strategy document plans for less intrusive supervision, a more open and collaborative approach, and a focus on assertive action where needed, outlining a vision of deepened trust and rebalanced risk that will be welcomed by all those it regulates, says Imogen Makin at WilmerHale.
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With the U.K. government’s recent call for the Competition and Markets Authority and other regulators to better support economic growth, the competition policy landscape is shifting materially toward an emphasis on a more proportionate and targeted approach to merger enforcement, say lawyers at Macfarlanes.
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Following President Donald Trump’s recent executive orders calling for increased scrutiny of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, it is clear that global businesses operating in the U.K. and European Union will need to understand regional nuances to successfully navigate differing agendas on either side of the Atlantic, say lawyers at Jenner & Block.
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The European Data Protection Board’s updated approval procedure for binding corporate rules for transfers of personal data to non-European Union countries promotes consistency for regulator communications during the application process, and sets expectations for processing timelines, say lawyers at Hogan Lovells.
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The Financial Conduct Authority’s recent bulletin on strategic leaks in merger and acquisition transactions, as the second such publication in four months, acts as a warning for issuers and their advisers to tighten up their current policies for handling inside information, say lawyers at Herbert Smith.
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The Financial Conduct Authority recently banned hedge fund boss Crispin Odey from working in financial services, underscoring the critical importance the regulator places on whether individuals are fit and proper to perform regulated activities, and the connection between nonfinancial misconduct and the integrity of the financial markets, say lawyers at Pallas Partners.
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The Home Office’s recent proposals to ban ransomware payments by publicly owned bodies is a welcome first step in its aims to tackle the cybercrime industry, but the risk remains that hackers will now focus on private companies that are still permitted to pay a ransom, says Dominic Holden at Lawrence Stephens.
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Leadership changes, shifting priorities and evolving enforcement tools dominated the conversation at the recent American Bar Association Spring Antitrust Meeting, as panelists explored competition policy under a second Trump administration, agency discretion under the 2023 merger guidelines and new frontiers in conduct enforcement, say attorneys at Freshfields.
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The arrival of the Online Safety Act’s deadlines for all in-scope services and children’s access in March and April, enabling the Office of Communications to begin enforcing safety duties regarding illegal content, presents formidable compliance challenges for affected businesses, says Louisa Chambers at Travers Smith.
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The Court of Appeal's December decision in Prismall v. Google, holding each claimant in a mass data privacy suit must demonstrate an individualized and sufficiently serious injury, demonstrates the difficulty of using representative action to collect damages for misused private information, say lawyers at Seladore Legal.
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A recent consultation paper from the Financial Conduct Authority aims to streamline the securities-listing process for U.K.-regulated markets, including by allowing issuers to submit a single application for all securities of the same class, and aligning the disclosure standards for low-denomination and wholesale bonds, say lawyers at Debevoise.
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Opinion
With a proposed Office of the Whistleblower Bill making its way through the U.K. Parliament, whistleblowing is starting to receive the attention it deserves, but the key to unlocking real change is for the government to take ownership of reform proposals and appoint an overarching whistleblowing champion, says Baroness Susan Kramer at the House of Lords.