Financial Services UK

  • July 06, 2026

    FCA Tells Banks To Improve 'Poor' Access To Basic Accounts

    The finance watchdog said on Tuesday that it had found widespread failings that left many vulnerable people unaware of essential banking services or unable to get access to them, adding that Britain's biggest lenders have agreed to improve access to basic bank accounts.

  • July 06, 2026

    UK Sanctions Russian Researchers Over Poison Program

    The U.K. has hit several Russian state scientific institutions and researchers involved in the development and production of the deadly toxins used in the murder of Alexei Navalny and the Salisbury poisonings.

  • July 06, 2026

    UK Lifeboat Fund Paid Out £267M In Compensation In 2025

    Britain's financial services lifeboat fund has said it paid out £267 million ($365.7 million) in compensation to more than 14,000 customers affected by companies failing in the last financial year.

  • July 06, 2026

    AML Body Wants New Rules For Cross-Border SARs Sharing

    Europe's fledgling anti-money laundering enforcer announced plans on Monday to streamline how and when law enforcement agencies share intelligence on suspicious transactions to crack down on financial crime. 

  • July 06, 2026

    Wise Payments Keeps TM Due To Rival's Translation Error 

    Wise Payments has cleared a challenge to its "Wise" trademark after European officials rejected a Portuguese property developer's opposition because it failed to provide an English translation outlining the services covered by its own logo.

  • July 06, 2026

    FCA Sets Out Plan To Tackle AI Risks In Financial Sector

    The Financial Conduct Authority said in a review on Monday that artificial intelligence will transform services in the sector for consumers and has proposed a seven-step framework to determine how it intends to regulate the technology.

  • July 06, 2026

    Pensions Watchdog Urges Industry Input On Scam Rules

    Britain's retirement savings watchdog has called on the pensions industry to engage with the government's consultation on new rules designed to stop workers from transferring long-term savings to bogus plans.

  • July 06, 2026

    Most Pension Industry Pros Back Local Gov't Investment Plan

    More than half of pension professionals support the government's plans to spur the £400 billion ($534 billion) local government pension system to invest in local economies — provided it doesn't affect the performance of funds, a trade body has found.

  • July 06, 2026

    TLT Guides £5M Pension Buy-In For UK Ammo Maker

    Defense technology company Key Technologies Ltd. has completed a £5 million ($6.7 million) full-scheme buy-in to secure the retirement benefits of all 48 members of its pension program, U.K. consultant Broadstone said Monday.

  • July 03, 2026

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

    The past week in London, Russia's state development bank was sued in a commercial fraud claim involving military GPS technology, one of Nike's subsidiaries brought an intellectual property claim against a menswear company owner, BlackBerry re-opened a $6.49 million claim against its South Asian licensee and CBRE property services filed a claim against CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP. 

  • July 03, 2026

    Mercuria Says Benchmark Rules Untested In Hormuz Claim

    Trader Mercuria Energy Group urged a London court on Friday to allow expert evidence on benchmarks and economics in its claim that the Baltic Exchange failed to account for the closure of the Strait of Hormuz when setting an oil-trading benchmark.

  • July 03, 2026

    Insurer Loses Bid To Brand Ex-CEO's £1.7M Take Dishonest

    An appeals court rejected on Friday an insurer's argument that its former chief executive had dishonestly pocketed £1.7 million ($2.3 million) from the business, ruling that a judge had fairly concluded that he believed he was authorized to take the money.

  • July 03, 2026

    Italian Engineer Wins Order Blocking 'Vexatious' Russian Case

    An Italian engineering company has successfully prevented a Eurochem subsidiary owned by a sanctioned oligarch from trying to enforce a $1.19 billion judgment against it in Russia, as a court held that the Russian proceedings are "vexatious and oppressive."

  • July 03, 2026

    FCA To Simplify Cost Disclosures On Consumer Investments

    The Financial Conduct Authority has set out proposals to simplify how financial services platforms and advisers disclose investment costs to consumers by merging fragmented rules on disclosure into a single approach.

  • July 03, 2026

    More Than 9 In 10 Pension Pros 'Would Use Surplus Funds'

    More than nine in 10 U.K. pension professionals expect to take advantage of planned new government rules that would allow defined benefit retirement schemes to release surplus funds, a pensions consultant has said.

  • July 03, 2026

    EU Adviser Backs Oligarch Sanctions Tied To Alfa Bank Role

    German Khan can't lift European Union sanctions against him, because the oligarch manages the assets of Alfa Bank which is one of the most important companies in Russia's banking sector, an advocate general of Europe's top court has said.

  • July 03, 2026

    Danish Lender Ringkjoebing To Roll Out New $61M Buyback

    Denmark-based bank Ringkjoebing said Friday it will launch a new stock repurchase program worth 400 million Danish kroner ($61.3 million), which is expected to further lower its share capital.

  • July 03, 2026

    EU Watchdog To Ease Transaction Reporting For €1B Saving

    The markets watchdog of the European Union has released a plan to simplify transaction reporting for financial institutions by eliminating duplication across rules as it seeks to save up to €1 billion ($1.14 billion) a year.

  • July 02, 2026

    BNP Paribas Exits Fed's 2017 Forex Trading Consent Order

    The Federal Reserve has freed BNP Paribas from a 2017 consent order tied to its foreign exchange trading operations, ending an enforcement action that came with a more than $246 million fine and was one of several to target big banks over past price-fixing concerns.

  • July 02, 2026

    SFO Ends Signature Group £140M Property Fraud Probe

    The Serious Fraud Office said Thursday that it had closed its investigation into property manager Signature Group over a suspected £140 million ($187 million) investment fraud after concluding that there was no realistic prospect of conviction.

  • July 02, 2026

    Moody's Germany Fined €2.1M For Misreporting To ESMA

    Moody's Germany has been fined €2.1 million ($2.4 million) for repeatedly providing incomplete and inaccurate regulatory data to the European Union's financial markets watchdog, including incorrect information on credit ratings, rating outlooks and historical performance, as well as deficiencies in its reporting controls.

  • July 02, 2026

    Forvis Mazars Fined £577K Over Botched Retailer Audit

    Forvis Mazars LLP has been fined £577,000 ($771,000) and one of its partners £33,000 by the U.K. accounting watchdog over serious failings in its audit of a digital catalog retailer's 2021 financial statements, conducted about eight months before the company collapsed.

  • July 02, 2026

    FCA Partially Suspends Motor Finance Compensation Program

    The Financial Conduct Authority said Thursday that a tribunal has partially suspended its motor finance compensation scheme until legal challenges in December or February 2027 are completed, as it confirmed that lenders targeted in complaints are not currently required to calculate or pay compensation.

  • July 02, 2026

    British Coal Pension Taps BlackRock To Run £8B Plan

    The trustees of a pension plan for former British coal industry workers have appointed asset management giant BlackRock as investment manager for the £8 billion ($11 billion) retirement savings program.

  • July 02, 2026

    FCA Takes Aim At Poor-Value Legacy Pension Funds

    The Financial Conduct Authority warned insurance companies on Thursday that consumers with savings in older pension investment products might not be getting good value for their money.

Expert Analysis

  • AI Puts Financial Firms' Human Accountability To The Test

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    A recent Financial Services Skills Commission report illustrates the paradox that artificial intelligence increases the need for human oversight while automating the pathways through which that expertise is developed, and financial firms whose governance evolves at pace with technology are posed to benefit the most, say Louise Neave and Jack Paul at Fox Williams.

  • Why Tonzip Is Notable In English Sanctions Law Development

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    The Court of Appeal's ruling in Tonzip Maritime Ltd. v. 2Rivers Pte Ltd., the latest in the English law of sanctions ownership and control, confirms that where a contract refers to sanctions exposure, the relevant question may be whether there is a real and objectively reasonable risk, not whether a sanctions breach has already been proved, say lawyers at Michelman Robinson.

  • How Firms Can Prepare For Increasing AI-Cybersecurity Risks

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    The growing convergence between cybersecurity and artificial intelligence means that businesses need to recognize the breadth of the threat, and conduct repeated testing and adjustment to address the shifting risk landscape, say lawyers at Debevoise.

  • What EU Coalition's 6-Point Proposal Means For Market Regs

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    The European Union’s recent position paper sent to the European Commission from its six largest economies is a serious political signal that businesses should treat as an indicator that European market regulation is heading toward deeper integration and stronger supervision, says Antonio Lanotte at Futura Law.

  • EU Protocol Strengthens Int'l Criminal Asset Recovery Powers

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    The Council of Europe’s recently adopted protocol to the Warsaw Convention marks a significant evolution in the international asset recovery landscape, signaling a focus on proactive and coordinated methods that require organizations to consider how to respond quickly to unexpected enforcement action, say lawyers at Trowers & Hamlin.

  • How UK Unfair Dismissal Reforms Could Affect PE Sponsors

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    The U.K. government’s unfair dismissal rights reforms taking effect from January 2027 could create uncertainty over management incentive arrangements and complicate senior management changes, representing a material shift in the risk landscape for private equity firms, say lawyers at Debevoise.

  • A Potent EU Tool To Block Russian Arbitration Interference

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    The European Union’s latest sanctions package introduces an EU-wide antisuit injunction mechanism that offers businesses a powerful weapon against Russia's efforts to derail international arbitration with forum-shopping tactics, say lawyers at Signature Litigation.

  • How FCA Proposal Would Change IPO Research Rules

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    The Financial Conduct Authority’s recent proposals for the governance of information flows in equity initial public offerings represent a recalibration rather than a wholesale deregulation of the current framework by maintaining that connected research be grounded in approved disclosure, say lawyers at Sullivan & Cromwell.

  • Nonequity Partner Tier Presents Lawyers With Pros And Cons

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    While the nonequity partner model may offer law firms' management flexibility and be a genuine stepping stone for lawyers in some organizations, at others the tier functions more as an extended holding pattern whose uncertainty can cause frustration for ambitious lawyers, say Filippo Falchi and Portia White at Major Lindsey.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From Covington's David Berman

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    David Berman, Covington's head of EMEA financial services, discusses how he perceived a gap in the market for practical financial regulatory advice, the challenges of advising Egypt on its new banking law, and how firms that neglect artificial intelligence governance do so at their peril.

  • EU Foreign Subsidies Report Offers Chance To Take Stock

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    The European Union’s forthcoming review of the Foreign Subsidies Regulation, revealing reassuringly low intervention rates but a burdensome prenotification process, offers the European Commission a timely opportunity to address genuine distortions and be more proportionate in its demands on market participants, say lawyers at Dechert.

  • EU Directive Recalibrates States' Anti-Corruption Landscape

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    The European Union's recently adopted anti-corruption directive does not transform compliance requirements overnight, but it will establish a minimum harmonization framework addressing substantive offenses, corporate liability and sanction levels across member states once national legislation is in place, say Katharina Humphrey, Karla Böltz and Maximilian Schach at Gibson Dunn.

  • Easing Of UK Stablecoin Rules Will Encourage Crypto Growth

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    The Bank of England’s recent decision to relax parts of its proposed framework for sterling-backed stablecoins balances innovation with financial stability, and will help the U.K. remain competitive with crypto markets across the globe, says Thomas Cattee at Gherson.

  • New FDI Regs Signal Major Changes For M&A Deals In EU

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    The European Parliament’s recent adoption of the new foreign direct investment regulation represents a major shift from the European Union's current regime, replacing a voluntary fragmented system with a mandatory baseline for screening and introducing procedural requirements that will bring greater consistency across member states, say lawyers at Covington.

  • EU Fund Manager Reforms May Deepen Divide With UK Regs

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    Although the European Union is progressing with newly implemented regulations for alternative investment fund managers, the U.K. is leveraging post-Brexit flexibility to review its regulatory framework, marking a potential divergence between the two regimes, say lawyers at Skadden.

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