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Financial Services UK

  • Featured

    New UK Watchdog Poised To Take On Embattled Audit Sector

    Britain’s plan to transform its audit regime has set the stage for a radical shakeup of the accounting sector by a new regulator empowered to crack down on the industry in the wake of a series of scandals and corporate collapses.

  • March 21, 2019

    Final FATCA Rules Expand Definition Of 'Responsible Officer'

    The U.S. Treasury Department finalized regulations Thursday that expand the definition of “responsible officer” under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act to include individuals who aren’t directly affiliated with American financial institutions that report on behalf of overseas banks.

  • March 21, 2019

    Record £28M Fine For UBS Puts Compliance Staff On Guard

    This week’s record £27.6 million ($34.8 million) fine against UBS for misreporting 136 million transactions has underlined the need for banking compliance teams to focus on their trading desks if they hope to avoid falling foul of Europe’s formidable securities rules.

  • March 21, 2019

    EU Offers UK Limited Delay To Stave Off A No-Deal Brexit

    European Union leaders said Thursday that Britain will be allowed to delay its departure from the bloc until May 22 on the condition that the government's withdrawal agreement gains parliamentary approval in the U.K. next week.

  • March 21, 2019

    Banks, Others Lose Appeal Challenging UK Tax Group Rules

    A London appeals court on Thursday dealt a blow to efforts by companies including Lloyds Banking Group PLC and Standard Chartered to recoup overpaid taxes, ruling the U.K.'s laws for VAT groups are compatible with European Union rules.

  • March 21, 2019

    EU To Update Powers Of Bloc’s Top Regulators, Improve AML

    European lawmakers said Thursday that they have agreed to an overhaul of the powers held by four of the bloc’s top regulators, in a bid to revamp these authorities’ decision-making structures and strengthen Europe’s fight against money laundering.

  • March 21, 2019

    UK Consumers Lost £1.2B Through Payment Fraud In 2018

    Criminals managed to get away with £1.2 billion ($1.57 billion) last year through banking and payment scams targeting U.K. consumers, according to an industry lobby group, which pinned the blame for many of the losses on third-party data breaches.

  • March 21, 2019

    ECB Scraps Request For Oversight On Euro Clearinghouses

    The European Central Bank has jettisoned a request for greater powers to regulate clearinghouses, blaming a deal struck between European Union governments and lawmakers this month for undermining its objectives. 

  • March 21, 2019

    Prepare Now For Hard Brexit, FCA Tells EU Finance Firms

    Financial services companies in Europe must register with the Financial Conduct Authority before March 29 if they want to continue serving clients in the U.K., the watchdog said, as it warned that it cannot rule out "volatility and disruption" if there is a no-deal Brexit.

  • March 21, 2019

    UK Watchdogs Ink No-Deal Brexit Cooperation Accord With EU

    Britain’s financial watchdogs and Europe’s top banking authority have said they will seal an agreement to allow them to cooperate and share information in regulatory investigations if the U.K. crashes out of the EU without a deal.

  • March 20, 2019

    SRA Money Laundering Compliance Probe Targets UK Firms

    The Solicitors Regulation Authority will launch a new probe to ensure law firms in England and Wales are in compliance with a recently enacted set of money laundering regulations, the body announced Wednesday.

  • March 20, 2019

    Commerzbank-Rothschild Suit Over €30M Note Deal On Hold

    Litigation launched by Commerzbank AG and Agate Assets SA, which issued €30 million in investment notes allegedly purchased by a Luxembourg investment fund with ties to an Italian pension scandal, has been stayed by a London court judge who also vacated a February 2020 trial date.

  • March 20, 2019

    RBS Denies UK Gov't Influenced Actions Of Turnaround Unit

    RBS has hit back at allegations that the British government had control over the treatment of companies in the lender's scandal-hit restructuring division, rejecting claims it gave in to demands to deny a property developer's efforts to refinance his struggling business.

  • March 20, 2019

    UK Privilege Protections Still Fall Short Of US Levels

    An English appeals court's rejection of a narrow interpretation of legal professional privilege has given the U.K. justice system a shot in the arm, but it has nonetheless left Britain out of step with the U.S. under a 15-year-old precedent that limits when privilege kicks in.

  • March 20, 2019

    Developer Demands Return Of Shares In £14.5M Fraud Fight

    The founder of property investment company Tonstate Group Ltd. has launched another London court battle against his son-in-law, Edward Wojakovski, demanding the return of shares in Tonstate after Wojakovski allegedly extracted more than £14.5 million ($19.2 million) from the business. 

  • March 20, 2019

    Retailers Hit Visa With Another UK Swipe Fees Suit

    More than a dozen merchants, including Virgin's gym branches and cosmetics giant Avon, have sued Visa in London, joining a list of companies accusing the credit card company of charging excessive swipe fees in violation of U.K. and European Union competition law.

  • March 20, 2019

    ISDA Publishes Tool Aimed At Automating Derivatives Trades

    The global derivatives industry body said Wednesday it has published a common blueprint it hopes will standardize how brokers trade, manage and record derivatives, in a bid to automate market practices and avoid disjointed processes used by traders.

  • March 20, 2019

    Indian Billionaire Remanded In UK Following $2B Fraud Claims

    A fugitive billionaire wanted by the Indian authorities over an alleged $2 billion loan fraud at Punjab National Bank was remanded in custody at a London magistrates court on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police confirmed.

  • March 20, 2019

    Troubled Metro Bank Feels Heat Over £120M Grant Award

    Scandal-hit lender Metro Bank PLC is facing renewed scrutiny after the head of a U.K. banking award questioned whether the lender had submitted misleading information in its application to secure a £120 million ($159 million) grant.

  • March 20, 2019

    BNP Paribas Unit Pins £3.5M Roof-Crash Loss On Cleaning Co.

    The collapse of a glass shopping center roof and the damage done to the stores beneath was caused by the negligence of the building’s cleaning service, a subsidiary of BNP Paribas has claimed in a £3.5 million suit for breach of contract at a London court.

  • March 20, 2019

    Deadlocked May Appeals To EU For 3-Month Brexit Delay

    Prime Minister Theresa May formally asked the European Union on Wednesday to delay Britain’s departure from the EU for three months until June 30 as she seeks to prevent the country from crashing out of the bloc without a deal next week.

Expert Analysis

  • Lenders Score Major High Court Victory In Foreclosure Case

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous ruling on Wednesday in Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP removes nearly all activities taken by creditors seeking nonjudicial foreclosure of liens and mortgages from the ambit of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, says John Baxter of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP.

  • How UK Orgs Can Prepare For EU's New Money Laundering Law

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    The U.K. government will likely adopt the European Union's Fifth Money Laundering Directive even in the event of a no-deal Brexit, meaning U.K. financial services organizations and law firms have under a year to review and possibly update their current policies and procedures, says Joanne Cracknell of Willis Towers Watson PLC.

  • EU Fintech Regulation Raises US Copyright Questions

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    The EU's revised Payment Services Directive is driving the creation of application programming interfaces that allow fintech companies to securely access and use customer banking data. The same APIs are almost certain to be used in the United States, bringing implications for copyright protection, say attorneys with Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP.

  • Is New SFO Head A 'Different Kind Of Director'?

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    While sharing some of her predecessor's sentiments, Serious Fraud Office Director Lisa Osofsky has shown decisiveness and independence by closing two of the SFO's largest investigations in her first six months in office, says Ross Dixon of Hickman & Rose Solicitors.

  • New Rules Would Support Sustainability In EU Capital Markets

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    Environmental, social and governance preferences are becoming an increasingly important aspect of the financial industry. New rules proposed by the European Securities and Market Authority would press asset managers in particular to develop investment and advisory processes integrating ESG factors, say attorneys at Jones Day.

  • A CFIUS Primer For UK Businesses

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    Parties should not underestimate the potential for national security concerns to arise in relation to non-U.S. investment in U.S. business, even in areas that may not be facially connected to U.S. security or infrastructure, and even when those involved are not U.S. businesses, say Jennifer Mammen and Daniel Schwartz of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP.

  • 3 Brexit Scenarios And Their Implications For US-UK Trade

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    Brexit negotiations are likely to result in one of three scenarios later this month: a Brexit deal, no Brexit at all or a "hard" no-deal Brexit. Each possibility will have different implications for the prospects of a U.S.-U.K. free trade agreement, says Dean Pinkert of Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP.

  • Frustrating Events: Are Your Contracts Brexit-Proof?

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    In Canary Wharf v. European Medicines Agency, the U.K. High Court recently ruled that the U.K.'s withdrawal from the European Union will not discharge the EMA's lease obligations. Following Brexit, most similar arguments invoking force majeure or frustration are unlikely to succeed, say Rebecca Dipple and Wayne Hofer of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.

  • Simple Secrets For Writing A Killer Brief

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    These days, the legal profession offers meager opportunity for oral argument, so we need to focus on being better, brighter, tighter writers. And the key to writing a better brief is grabbing your judge's attention with a persuasive, well-crafted story, says Daniel Karon of Karon LLC.

  • Takeaways From EU's Latest Anti-Money Laundering Rules

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    The Sixth Anti-Money Laundering Directive recently adopted by the Council of the European Union targets the financing of terrorism and organized crime, which have remained significant problems despite the efforts of previous directives, say Ian Hargreaves and Deirdre Lyons Le Croy of Covington & Burling LLP.