New legislation laid out in the King's Speech on Wednesday included the government's plans for a bill to strengthen trading ties with the European Union alongside an Enhancing Financial Services Bill in the next 12 months, but lawyers warn that the scope remains limited with potential unexpected consequences.
New powers that put companies on the chopping block for crimes committed by their executives dramatically expand corporate liability to include a wider array of offenses, which businesses already struggling with "compliance fatigue" have barely begun to grapple with, lawyers say.
Legal challenges to the Financial Conduct Authority's motor finance redress scheme fired off this week to the Upper Tribunal will lead to long delays, with some legal experts already doubting whether the cases can be argued successfully.
.jpg)
A recent court ruling that expands legal advice privilege to cover some internal corporate communications gives companies greater scope for withholding sensitive material but is likely to prompt challenges over whether those documents meet the test for protection, lawyers say.
Previous
Next
New legislation laid out in the King's Speech on Wednesday included the government's plans for a bill to strengthen trading ties with the European Union alongside an Enhancing Financial Services Bill in the next 12 months, but lawyers warn that the scope remains limited with potential unexpected consequences.
New powers that put companies on the chopping block for crimes committed by their executives dramatically expand corporate liability to include a wider array of offenses, which businesses already struggling with "compliance fatigue" have barely begun to grapple with, lawyers say.
Legal challenges to the Financial Conduct Authority's motor finance redress scheme fired off this week to the Upper Tribunal will lead to long delays, with some legal experts already doubting whether the cases can be argued successfully.
A recent court ruling that expands legal advice privilege to cover some internal corporate communications gives companies greater scope for withholding sensitive material but is likely to prompt challenges over whether those documents meet the test for protection, lawyers say.
-
May 22, 2026
A Labour member of the U.K. Parliament vying to succeed Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said he will work to implement a "wealth tax that works" by equalizing capital gains tax and income tax rates if he wins a future leadership contest.
-
May 22, 2026
Mercuria Energy Group secured an expedited October trial on Friday in its claim against Baltic Exchange for allegedly failing to factor the essential closing of the Strait of Hormuz into an oil trading benchmark, after Mercuria argued it would affect the entire market.
-
May 22, 2026
The former owners of PrivatBank failed on Friday to overturn a finding that they owe the Ukrainian lender $3 billion, as an appeals court rejected their argument that its acceptance of a later repayment "extinguished" the loss resulting from their fraudulent loan recycling scheme.
-
May 22, 2026
Administrators of a company linked to Market Financial Solutions have sued Paresh Raja, the collapsed lender's owner, in a London court for alleged breach of fiduciary duty — the latest in growing litigation surrounding the mortgage scandal.
-
May 22, 2026
The past week in London has seen Napster sued by a music royalties company, White & Case LLP and Laytons LLP targeted in a claim by a property developer, a short-term lender pursue legal action against law firm Rainer Hughes and its former founding partner following his strike-off for money laundering offenses, and the administrators of London Bridging sue the founder of collapsed Market Financial Solutions. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.
-
May 22, 2026
An e-commerce platform has settled its claim against a Canadian financial technology company that allegedly wrongly withheld a total of €1.3 million ($1.5 million) and 20.9 million Japanese yen ($130,000) owed from customer purchases.
-
May 22, 2026
Bulk purchase insurers held nearly two-thirds of their total assets of more than £200 billion ($268 billion) within the U.K. in 2024, a trade body has said.
-
May 22, 2026
New regulations that will reshape Britain's local government pensions investments will come into force in June, as a minister said the reforms will improve retirement returns for millions of council workers and unlock more cash for economic investment.
-
May 22, 2026
The average surplus of defined benefit pension plans sponsored by Britain's top 100 companies was more than £550 million ($738.4 million) at the end of 2025, a consultancy has said, with an aggregate surplus estimated at almost £40 billion.
-
May 21, 2026
U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves announced plans Thursday to restrict offshore tax planning by energy multinationals as part of a series of fiscal measures, including cuts to fuel duty and value-added tax.
-
May 21, 2026
The former boss of London Capital & Finance PLC was hit with a six-month prison sentence Thursday for breaching an order imposed by the Serious Fraud Office during an investigation into the £237 million ($317.9 million) collapse of the company.
-
May 21, 2026
Most U.K. defined benefit pension programs have now decided their long-term plans for their eventual managed wind-downs, including buyouts by insurance groups, an Aon PLC report showed on Thursday.
-
May 21, 2026
The Bank of England said Thursday that it will loosen rules to make it easier for foreign insurers to operate in the U.K. as part of an effort to boost the national economy.
-
May 21, 2026
The U.K. has topped mainland Europe as the leading destination for foreign investment in financial and professional services despite Brexit and global volatility, the governing body of the City of London said on Thursday.
-
May 21, 2026
Standard Life PLC has said it has insured £200 million ($268 million) of the liabilities of its own staff pension program, in a deal guided by Linklaters.
-
May 20, 2026
Three companies have denied allegations that they conspired to defraud a management consultancy by helping a purported bond market trader dissipate a $9.4 million investment, claiming the funds they received from the trader's business were legitimate payments relating to loans.
-
May 20, 2026
A European court has ruled that employees claiming to have suffered discrimination at work before Brexit can still expect EU law to apply to their case if it began before the U.K. left the European Union.
-
May 20, 2026
The class representative of a U.K. mass claim against Mastercard said Wednesday that a London court should rebuff litigation funder Innsworth's challenge to the distribution of the claim's £200 million ($269 million) settlement, arguing that it received enough profit in light of how the claim had gone.
-
May 20, 2026
Britain's triple lock state pension is ripe for reform, a U.K. think tank has said, arguing the policy is becoming unaffordable and unfair to younger taxpayers, and instead proposing more targeted support for poorer retirees.
-
May 20, 2026
The retirement savings watchdog pushed out rules for pension bosses on the use of artificial intelligence on Wednesday after it emerged that almost all retirement schemes in the U.K. are using the new technology.
-
May 20, 2026
Most venture capital firms say they have faced difficulties getting backing from pension investors, despite assurances that the £250 billion ($335 billion) defined contribution sector will invest more in U.K. equities, a trade body has said.
-
May 20, 2026
The Financial Conduct Authority said Wednesday that it has expanded a support scheme for fast-growing companies as the U.K. looks to strengthen its position as a global hub for businesses and services in the sector.
-
May 20, 2026
London-based GHO Capital and CBC Group in Singapore said Wednesday that they will merge to create what they claim will be the world's largest healthcare investment company, managing more than $21 billion in assets.
-
May 19, 2026
Litigation funder Innsworth told the High Court on Tuesday that the distribution of a £200 million ($268 million) settlement from a U.K. mass claim against Mastercard is "illogical" and "flawed" in the first case to test a Competition Appeal Tribunal settlement decision.
-
May 19, 2026
Cyberattacks on businesses in Britain are estimated to have cost £3.7 billion ($5 billion) in litigation in 2025, an insurance broker has said, warning that many do not have sufficient cover to protect against legal and reputational damage caused by a major breach.