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Financial Services UK

  • Featured

    Questions Linger After Early Win For New UK Dirty Money Law

    By Richard Crump

    A London court has dismissed the first challenge to new "dirty money" powers that allow British authorities to force wealthy people to explain how they obtained their riches if the wealth is suspected to be the proceeds of crime, but lawyers are unsure how effective the new enforcement tool will be.

  • November 13, 2018

    UK, Singapore Fintech Groups Sign Cross-Border Agreement

    Organizations representing the U.K.’s and Singapore’s financial technology industries signed an agreement pledging to cooperate with one another on Tuesday, hoping that the cross-border pact will lay the groundwork for faster growth among startups in both countries.

  • November 13, 2018

    Cybercrime Tops FCA's List Of Financial Fraud Worries

    Identity theft and phishing attacks are the scams that financial firms are most concerned about, according the first financial crime review published by the City's watchdog on Tuesday.

  • November 13, 2018

    Lender To Hand Over Account Docs In €4M Insurance Dispute

    U.K. lender Nationwide Building Society has been pulled into a dispute between XL Insurance Co. SE and an underwriting firm over €4 million ($4.5 million) in allegedly unpaid premiums, after a High Court judge told it to hand over client account information connected to the transfer of funds.

  • November 13, 2018

    Court Of Appeal Will Hear £14B Mastercard Class Action Bid

    An English appeals court ruled Tuesday that it could weigh whether a £14 billion ($18.1 billion) consumer antitrust suit against MasterCard Inc. can proceed as a class action, rejecting an attempt to limit the challenge to a procedural review. 

  • November 13, 2018

    Regulations Make Bankers 'Scared' Of Decisions, MPs Told

    Tough compliance regimes at British banks risk making staff too frightened to make important decisions or take the initiative, the head of the Banking Standards Board warned a panel of lawmakers on Tuesday.

  • November 13, 2018

    Watchdog Points Way For EU Money Market Funds Disclosure

    Europe’s top securities regulator published guidelines on Tuesday to help managers of money market funds report quarterly information to their national supervisors, in a move that will allow the bloc to reduce risk in the sector under upcoming EU rules.

  • November 13, 2018

    Bulgaria's Banks Under ECB Spotlight As It Eyes Eurozone

    The European Central Bank has announced it will undertake a “comprehensive assessment” of six Bulgarian lenders, which will include a stress test and a review of their assets, as the country seeks to join the bloc’s banking union.

  • November 12, 2018

    Judge Narrows Century Financial's Trade Finance Dispute

    A claim by Century Financial Holdings that a Cyprus-based trading company had acted fraudulently and misled a London court at a trial over a trade finance dispute has been struck out, according to new documents filed in the case.

  • November 12, 2018

    FX Firm Can't Use HSBC's UK Docs For US Manipulation Suit

    A judge in London has rejected an attempt by a debt management company to use documents that HSBC PLC disclosed in U.K. proceedings as it considers whether to sue two of the bank’s units in the U.S. over allegations of "serious wrongdoing" in the foreign exchange markets.

  • November 12, 2018

    Ex-AIG Staff Could Win $100M After High Court Bonus Ruling

    A London court has ruled that 23 former executives at AIG are entitled to deferred bonuses pre-dating the financial crisis that could be worth more than $100 million despite the units' involvement in the risky trading that nearly brought down the insurance giant.

  • November 12, 2018

    UK Lawmakers Launch Probe Into 'Broken' Audit Market

    A fresh investigation is to be launched into the state of auditing in the U.K., the head of a parliamentary committee revealed on Monday, in the wake of a series of accounting scandals and corporate collapses that have “undermined public and investor confidence.”

  • November 12, 2018

    Financial Services Get Shared Lexicon To Fight Cyberattacks

    A forum of central bankers announced on Monday that it has published a common vocabulary of cyber terms to help the global financial services sector boost cross-border cooperation on security by cracking down on the growing threat of online crime.

  • November 12, 2018

    Watchdog Needs Help In 'David and Goliath' Fights, MPs Say

    The U.K.'s accounting regulator could need more funding if it is to avoid "David and Goliath" battles with “corporate giants” such as BHS Ltd., the retail chain that collapsed in 2016 with a £571 million ($733 million) pension deficit, two senior lawmakers have said.

  • November 9, 2018

    Equifax, Oracle Accused Of Flouting GDPR Data Use Rules

    A British advocacy group is urging European privacy regulators to investigate Equifax, Oracle, Acxiom and several other data brokers and ad-tech companies for allegedly exploiting millions of people's personal data in violation of the bloc's stringent General Data Protection Regulation. 

  • November 9, 2018

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

    The last week has seen a pair of disputes involving asset manager CGrowth, another suit from private equity-linked firms taking on parties linked to Thailand's KPN Group and Kodak bring a competition case against Goldman, Glencore and others the film giant has accused of manipulating aluminum prices in the U.S. Here, Law360 looks at those and other new claims in the U.K.

  • November 9, 2018

    US, UK Continue Setting Table For Broader Trade Talks

    Trade officials from the U.S. and United Kingdom have been preparing for post-Brexit trade negotiations with lower-level talks on issues like e-commerce, industrial and agricultural goods, investment and financial services, according to a Trump administration readout of their recent meetings published Friday.

  • November 9, 2018

    Regulator Tells Markets To Prepare For No-Deal Brexit

    The European Securities and Markets Authority warned the clients of credit rating agencies and trade repositories on Friday that they need to step up their preparations for a no-deal Brexit and monitor the readiness of the firms they do business with.

  • November 9, 2018

    7 Questions For Monzo Bank's General Counsel

    In the two years since Dean Nash took on a leading role in Monzo Bank’s legal department, the bank’s customer base has grown from about 20,000 to more than 1 million. Here, Nash talks to Law360 about his expanded role at the bank and how Monzo’s relationship with regulators has evolved since it was founded in 2015.

  • November 9, 2018

    Rogue Investment Scheme Backers Ordered To Repay £19M

    Members behind a rogue investment firm must pay £18.7 million ($24.2 million) in restitution for their roles in four unauthorized collective investment schemes, a London court has ruled, hiking the amount to be repaid by £2.8 million after a request from Britain’s financial services watchdog.

  • November 9, 2018

    EU Extends Ban Of Binary Options Sales To Retail Customers

    The European Securities and Markets Authority said on Friday that it has renewed its ban on the sale of risky binary options to retail customers for a further three months amid "significant concern" about protecting investors across the bloc.

Expert Analysis

  • Time For Banks To Realign Legal, Risk And Compliance Teams

    Naomi Bowman

    After the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the crisis that followed, banks organized their legal, compliance and risk divisions into silos that addressed the needs of the moment. Ten years later, however, it's time to consider whether this is still the best framework for the future, says Naomi Bowman of Berkeley Research Group LLC.

  • UK And EU Crawl Toward Virtual Currency Regulation

    Jacqui Hatfield

    The lack of a harmonized approach to regulation of initial coin offerings in the EU is leading to a piecemeal approach across member states that will hamper blockchain developments, say Jacqui Hatfield and Rebecca Kellner of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.

  • Prosecutors Avoid 5th Amendment Showdown In Libor Case

    Justin Shur

    Former Deutsche Bank trader Gavin Black was recently convicted of wire fraud and conspiracy in connection with Libor manipulation. However, absent from the government’s case were Black's statements made during internal investigations, which leaves open an important Fifth Amendment question, say Justin Shur and Eric Nitz of MoloLamken LLP.

  • Is Equifax Data Breach Penalty A Sign Of Fines To Come?

    James Castro-Edwards

    Recently, the U.K. Information Commissioner's Office fined Equifax £500,000 for falling victim to a cyberattack — the highest penalty available. Some speculate that this decision is a sign that the ICO is already assuming a tougher stance following the commencement of the General Data Protection Regulation, say James Castro-Edwards and Eaven Prenter of Wedlake Bell LLP.

  • Ensure That Dispute Resolution Mechanisms Are Brexit-Proof

    Claire Stockford

    With only five months remaining for the U.K. to make a deal with the EU and the possibility of a "no-deal" Brexit looking increasingly plausible, now is the time to take proactive steps to protect your clients’ positions and to make sure that their contracts are effective and enforceable, say Claire Stockford and Caitlin McLean of Shepherd & Wedderburn LLP.

  • 5 Cyber Insurance Pitfalls To Avoid In The UK

    Richard Mattick

    Faced with the opportunity to purchase cyber risk insurance to mitigate the damage caused by cyber events, prospective policyholder companies need all the help they can get in order to navigate this increasingly complex part of the U.K. insurance market, says Richard Mattick of Covington & Burling LLP.

  • UK Unexplained Wealth Orders: More Bark Than Bite So Far

    Fred Saugman

    This month, the U.K. National Crime Agency successfully resisted a challenge to its first unexplained wealth orders. This is a victory, but the agency has some way to go to show that UWOs will be a meaningful tool in the U.K.'s anti-money laundering arsenal, says Fred Saugman of WilmerHale.

  • Tax Evasion Knows No Borders

    Kim Marie Boylan

    The former CEO of a U.K. bank recently pled guilty to charges under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, following a U.S. Department of Justice sting operation spanning several countries. The conviction sends a clear message that U.S. authorities will prosecute not only U.S. account holders, but those who facilitate tax evasion, whatever their nationality, say attorneys at White & Case LLP.

  • GDPR Compliance Questions For Blockchain Firms

    Daniel Cooper

    The General Data Protection Regulation applies to blockchain networks that directly store personal information. However, blockchain technology can make compliance challenging, and also raises questions regarding who bears responsibility for compliance, say attorneys at Covington & Burling LLP.

  • Knowledge Management: An Unsung Hero Of Legal Innovation

    Rob MacAdam

    As technology evolves, law firms are increasingly looking for ways to improve communication, transparency and service for their clients. Firms should put knowledge management at the core of their value proposition to create a competitive advantage, says Rob MacAdam at HighQ.