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Financial Services UK

Exterior of the financial regulator's offices in London

FCA Kick-Starts New 'Name And Shame' Enforcement Tactic

The Financial Conduct Authority has begun 2026 with a clear sign that it will use its newly won power to "name and shame" companies under investigation for suspected misconduct as it seeks to bolster protection for consumers.

The Top Non-SFO Financial Crime Trials To Watch In 2026

A major corruption trial against Nigeria's former oil minister, a tax fraud case against a prominent barrister and the prosecution of two men over a cyberattack on London's transport network are among the biggest white-collar cases in 2026 not brought by the Serious Fraud Office.

FCA Expected To Boost Fines, Name More Companies In 2026

The Financial Conduct Authority is likely to step up its enforcement action in 2026 with higher fines and more readiness to name companies under investigation, bolstered by a landmark High Court rejection of a challenge to such a naming decision.

What To Expect From The Competition Appeal Tribunal In 2026

With a new president at the helm, potential government reform and a crowded trial calendar, lawyers say the next 12 months will see a Competition Appeal Tribunal with a more disciplined judicial culture.

January 15, 2026
Real Estate Investor Sues Insurance Broker Over Unpaid Loan

A real estate investment company and an affiliate firm have sued an insurance broker and its sole director for their alleged failure to repay a loan worth almost £227,000 ($304,000) and breaches of obligations linked to the businesses.
January 15, 2026
Gov't Drops Planned Probe Into UK Pensions Ombudsman

The government confirmed it has dropped a pledge to carry out a review of the U.K.'s pension arbitration body, in the wake of the Atomic Energy Agency Technology retirement fund scandal.
January 15, 2026
Pensions Watchdog Hires Treasury Mandarin As Policy Chief

The Pensions Regulator said Thursday it has appointed as its new policy chief one of the leading architects behind the government's push for retirement funds to invest more in the economy.
January 15, 2026
BoE To Streamline Big Firms' Risk-Reviews With 2-Year Cycle

The regulatory body of the Bank of England said Thursday that larger businesses will have to attend formal risk reviews only every two years as it moves to streamline their supervision.
January 15, 2026
Pensions Co. Vidett Acquires London Governance Biz

Governance and pensions services provider Vidett has acquired Bridgehouse Company Secretaries, an outsourced corporate governance business, as it strengthens its position in an evolving corporate services market.
January 14, 2026
Swedbank Says DOJ Has Closed AML Probe Without Action

Swedbank, one of the biggest banks serving Europe's Baltic region, said Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Justice has released it from a long-running anti-money-laundering-related investigation, removing another U.S. legal cloud hanging over the lender.
January 14, 2026
City Council Sues Hermes Over Gamble On Wind Farms

A Scottish local authority is suing the managers of its pension fund at the High Court over a decision to invest £104 million ($140 million) in a "highly risky" portfolio of Swedish wind farms that led to substantial losses.
January 14, 2026
UK, EU Ink MoU On Overseeing Third-Party Service Providers

British and European regulators will coordinate regulation of third-party service providers in the financial sector to guard against market disruptions, according to a memorandum of understanding published Wednesday.
January 14, 2026
Alleged UK Hacker Can Be Extradited To US Over Illicit Trades

A British man accused of hacking into the email accounts of American executives and using sensitive information to make $3.75 million in illicit trades can be extradited to the U.S. to stand trial, a London judge ruled Wednesday.
January 14, 2026
New TPR Chair Floats 'Rule-Making' Powers For Watchdog

The Pensions Regulator should be granted new rule-making powers similar in scope to the Financial Conduct Authority, the incoming chair of the watchdog told MPs on Wednesday.
January 14, 2026
SFO Launches Bribery And Fraud Probe Into Property Investor

The Serious Fraud Office said Wednesday that it has opened a criminal investigation into the former management of a major housing company over suspicions of fraud and bribery worth an estimated £300 million ($403 million).
January 14, 2026
FRC To Continue Removing 'Unnecessary' Business Burdens

Britain's accounting watchdog said Wednesday it will continue its efforts to reduce "unnecessary" reporting and regulatory requirements on businesses as part of its broader bid to support growth in the U.K.
January 14, 2026
Saba Capital Urges Workspace To Start Managed Wind-Down

U.S. hedge fund Saba Capital Management LP has called on the board of Workspace Group PLC, a U.K. provider of flexible office space, to pursue a structured end to the troubled company's operations.
January 14, 2026
Osborne Clarke Steers £35M Pension Deal For Ferry Co.

A transport company has offloaded £35 million ($47 million) of its pension plan liabilities to insurer Just Group PLC in a deal steered by Osborne Clarke.
January 13, 2026
Carter-Ruck Pro Seeks £914K From SRA Over OneCoin Case

A Carter-Ruck partner urged a disciplinary tribunal on Tuesday to order the solicitors' regulator to pay her almost £1 million ($1.35 million) in legal costs and tax over its allegation that she had improperly threatened a whistleblower who exposed the OneCoin cryptocurrency scam.
January 13, 2026
Service Co. Says It Was Wrongly Blocked From Gov't Contract

A communications services provider argued at the start of a London trial Tuesday that the Department for Work and Pensions was wrong to exclude it from the procurement process for a videoconferencing contract because of its answer to a technical question.
January 13, 2026
Pensions Body Warns MPs Over 'Salary Sacrifice' Reforms

The government's plan to cap salary sacrifice arrangements will pile additional costs on businesses and deter additional pensions saving, a trade body has warned lawmakers.
January 13, 2026
Pinsent Masons Guides £213M Pension Deal For Siemens

Pension Insurance Corp. PLC said Tuesday it has concluded a £213 million ($287 million) full scheme buy-in to secure the retirement benefits for the U.K. employees of global medical technology group Siemens Healthineers AG.
January 12, 2026
Ex-Goldman Exec Faces July FCPA Trial Over Ghana Deal

A Brooklyn federal judge Monday teed up a midsummer trial for a former Goldman Sachs banker accused of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by bribing Ghanaian officials to secure a power plant deal.
January 12, 2026
Prosecutors Say Investors Lost Millions In Investment Scam

Four men defrauded two investors out of millions of dollars in "too good to be true" get-rich-quick investment schemes involving financial products, a prosecutor said during the opening of a London trial on Monday.
January 12, 2026
FCA Warns Wealth Managers Sell ETPs To Wrong Consumers

The Financial Conduct Authority said Monday that investment businesses are failing to test consumers' knowledge adequately before selling them complex exchange-traded products without advice.
January 12, 2026
'Stark Mismatch' Between Pension Expectations And Reality

Millions of Britons are on course for retirement with significantly lower income than what the industry considers to be adequate, a pensions provider has said.
January 12, 2026
Chef Fairly Fired For Hygiene Failures At Bank Of America

A tribunal has rejected a claim by a former chef that a food services company unfairly dismissed him over food hygiene failures that his employer said could have jeopardized a flagship client contract with Bank of America.
January 12, 2026
Dashboard Project To Set Up Group For Private Sector Portals

The organization behind the pensions dashboard project has set out plans to establish a working group to help private sector companies connect to the long-awaited system.
January 12, 2026
UK Bitcoin Treasury Co. To Move To Main Market From Aquis

The Smarter Web Company PLC, which holds bitcoin as its primary reserve asset, said Monday that it plans to upgrade its listing to the main market of the London Stock Exchange from the Aquis growth market.

Editor's Picks

5 Questions For Spencer West Partner Karl Foster

The Financial Conduct Authority's approach to enforcement and consumer protection has come up against government economic growth priorities and resistance from the sector to its proposals to "name and shame" companies early on during regulatory probes.
UK Draft Pay Fraud Rules Open Tricky Legal Liabilities

The government's new draft legislation, which will give banks longer to investigate suspicions of fraud before they send payments instructed by customers, will create a wave of new legal liabilities and lead to regulatory hurdles, according to lawyers.
FCA Fires Warning Shot Over City's Consumer Duty Failings

The Financial Conduct Authority has sent out a fresh warning to financial services companies highlighting how some of them are failing to comply with its Consumer Duty regime. But experts have told Law360 that the expectations are unclear.

Expert Analysis

10 Financial Regulatory Changes To Prepare For In 2026

A number of changes in the financial regulatory sphere are due this year, from targeted support to payment safeguarding and a new consumer composite investments regime, and firms should plan to address the policies and regulatory strategies relevant to them, say lawyers at Womble Bond.
How Gov't AML Supervision Reform Will Affect Law Firms

In confirming that the Financial Conduct Authority will become the single supervisor for professional services, HM Treasury’s planned reform of the U.K.’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing supervision regime marks a significant change for the legal profession, signaling a greater emphasis on evidence and accountability, says Harriet Holmes at Thirdfort.
EU Financial Regulation Trends Cos. Need To Watch In 2026

An ever-increasing number of initiatives on the European Union regulatory agenda, with simplification and consistent implementation being priorities, means financial services businesses with a footprint in the EU or seeking to establish one will face significant challenges and strategic opportunities, say lawyers at Taylor Wessing.
What To Expect From UK, EU Crypto Regime Changes In 2026

With 2025 marking the first operational year of the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation and the U.K.’s rules reaching their final legislative form, the two jurisdictions are converging in focus, but structural design differences mean firms active in both markets will require dedicated documentation to ensure compliance, say lawyers at Morgan Lewis.
What Cos. Can Expect From CMA Consumer Protection Drive

The Competition and Markets Authority’s recently launched consumer protection drive targeting banned online sales practices focuses on supporting compliance rather than on enforcement, although firms should expect this to change once businesses have had time to adapt to the regulator's new regime, say lawyers at Baker Botts.
Preparing For UK's New Tax Fraud Whistleblower Program

With the U.K. government introducing a U.S.-style whistleblower incentive scheme to tackle high-value tax avoidance and evasion, companies should take proactive steps and establish clear protocols to mitigate the potential increase in tax investigations, say lawyers at Skadden.
Key Trends Shaping ESG And Sustainability Law In 2026

2025 saw a chaotic regulatory landscape and novel litigation around environmental, social and governance issues and sustainability — and 2026, while perhaps more predictable, will likely be no less challenging, with more lawsuits and a regulatory tug-of-war complicating compliance for global companies, say attorneys at Crowell.
Digital Regulation In EU And UK: The Enduring 2025 Themes

With EU and U.K. digital regulation becoming an operational reality in 2025 and no sign of slowing in 2026, organizations need to embed content moderation, cybersecurity and data access obligations into their compliance structures, although legislative divergences mean that multinational businesses must also consider parallel and sometimes conflicting expectations, say lawyers at Morrison & Foerster.
FCA Enforcement Trends In 2025 And Expectations For 2026

The Financial Conduct Authority’s clear intention in 2025 to conduct fewer, faster investigations and reinforce transparency is likely to continue in 2026, with a dual-pronged approach of targeted enforcement and assertive supervision to fight crime, support growth and help consumers as its priorities, say lawyers at WilmerHale.
Judicial AI Guidance Update Shows Caution Still Prevails

The judiciary’s recently updated guidance on the use of artificial intelligence warns judges and tribunal members about misinformation and white text manipulation, providing a reminder that AI tools cannot replace direct engagement with evidence and reflecting a broader concern about their application when handling confidential material, say lawyers at Hogan Lovells.
Freezing Orders Maintain Their Impact 50 Years On

Freezing orders, created in Mareva v. International Bulk Carriers 50 years ago, are now a fundamental part of English and Welsh law and a significant weapon in the litigator's armory, considered indispensable by practitioners seeking to obtain enforceable judgments and interlocutory relief on behalf of their clients, say lawyers at Trowers and Hamlins.
EU Businesses Face Uncertainty Amid Sustainability Reforms

The European Commission’s sustainability omnibus, due to be approved this month, has brought a year of regulatory upheaval for European businesses, and although the long-awaited scaled-back obligations will provide clarity, a balance between not overburdening reporting companies and the need for data to make sustainable investments must be found, say lawyers at Peters & Peters.
How Russia Sanctions Trajectory Is Affecting UK Legal Sector

The proliferation of U.K. and European Union sanctions targeting Russia has led to a vast increase in legislative provisions, and lawyers advising affected businesses should expect a complex and evolving legal landscape for the foreseeable future, says Rob Dalling at Jenner & Block.
Tracking Crypto-Asset Tax Rules In 2025 And Beyond

The past year has seen an increasing amount of regulation in the crypto-asset space, with a range of novel and complex taxation challenges for regulators, and taxpayers can expect a marked increase in HM Revenue & Customs' compliance activity in the year ahead, says Liam McKay at RPC.
Navigating Legal Privilege Issues When Using AI

The recent explosion in artificial intelligence has led to prompts and AI outputs that may be susceptible to disclosure in proceedings, and it is important to apply familiar principles to assess whether legal privilege may apply to these interactions, say lawyers at HSF.