Financial Services UK

4 Things To Watch As UK Releases Budget

The U.K.'s Labour government is set to release an autumn budget Wednesday that faces a test of balancing a pledge not to raise working people's taxes with an expected need to boost revenue to meet fiscal rules. Here are four things to watch for as the budget is issued.

Blocks featuring binary code with locks on dark blue background as illustration of blockchain technology.

SFO's Crypto Probe Marks Shift In Tackling Blockchain Fraud

The launch by the Serious Fraud Office of its first cryptocurrency investigation signals an appetite for using new resources to crack down on fraud, part of a wider move by U.K. law enforcement agencies to treat blockchain as a mainstream threat, lawyers say.

Individual cryptocurrency coins on view on a black surface.

How Mishcon Helped Uncover £5.6B Money Laundering Plot

Law360 examines here how a suspicious activity report raised by Mishcon de Reya about a client's attempted transactions served as the catalyst for one of the biggest cryptocurrency seizures in British history.

FCA Oversight Spells Tougher AML Scrutiny For Law Firms

The Financial Conduct Authority's new powers to police lawyers and other professionals could place law firms under a heightened supervisory regime similar to that of banks and other high-risk financial institutions, experts say.

December 08, 2025
Investec Wins Bid To Have 22M Debt Case Heard In England

Two business executives failed on Monday to persuade a London court to stop Anglo-South African lender Investec from pursuing its claim in England for almost £22 million ($30 million) that the pair allegedly owe under loan agreements.
December 08, 2025
Lessors Bid To Flip $69M Plane Payment Sanctions Ruling

Aircraft lessors urged the U.K.'s highest court Monday to overturn a ruling that they cannot receive $69.3 million for Russian planes because of sanctions, arguing that a lower court had wrongly found that UniCredit's U.K. branch had rightly withheld payments under letters of credit.
December 08, 2025
AmTrust, Blackstone Launch New MGA Platform

AmTrust and the credit and insurance arm of Blackstone have agreed to turn some of the global insurer's managing general agencies and other companies in the U.S. and U.K. into a new business.
December 08, 2025
Lawyers In Crosshairs In New Anti-Corruption Crackdown

Corrupt lawyers, accountants and bankers "will be hunted down" under a new anti-corruption strategy unveiled by the government on Monday, which will crack down on enablers facilitating bribery and illicit finance in the U.K.
December 08, 2025
Pension Reforms Could Boost UK Investment By £220B

The government could raise £220 billion ($293 billion) in additional investment in Britain over the next decade through a series of reforms to pensions, insurance and home building, an insurer said in a report on Monday.
December 08, 2025
FCA Releases Landmark Reforms To Boost Retail Investment

The Financial Conduct Authority published on Monday a landmark package of measures to encourage investments by consumers to help U.K. growth, giving businesses new clarity on when they are dealing with professionals.
December 08, 2025
More Than 3M Savers Hit By Salary Sacrifice Budget Change

The government's plan to cap pension salary sacrifice arrangements will worsen the growing crisis of pension under-saving, a former pensions minister has warned, after an official report found that at least 3.3 million workers will be affected.
December 08, 2025
BNP Paribas Ups Stake In Ageas With €1.1B Investment

French banking giant BNP Paribas said on Monday that its insurance subsidiary has increased its stake in Belgian multinational insurer Ageas Group SA to 22.5% from 14.9% with the injection of €1.1 billion ($1.28 billion) in new share capital.
December 05, 2025
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

This past week in London has seen Mozambique sue the late tycoon Iskandar Safa's family and Privinvest amid the wider $1.9 billion "tuna bond" fraud case, Entain face a claim from a major U.S. pensions agency, and a Mexican lawyer accused of embezzlement bring legal action against Travelers Insurance Co.
December 05, 2025
UK Watchdog Intervenes In Food Co.'s Pension Plan

Britain's retirement savings watchdog said on Friday its intervention, sparked by concern for members of a pension arrangement sponsored by a food manufacturer, has prompted the business to commit to putting around £300 million ($400 million) into the plan.
December 05, 2025
Goldman Sachs' Investor Petershill Leaves LSE

Petershill Partners PLC, a private equity investor owned by Goldman Sachs, said Friday that it will no longer trade on the London Stock Exchange after "significant" macroeconomic and geopolitical headwinds forced it to announce the decision in September.
December 05, 2025
Nordic Capital Denies Addere Entitled To Hargreaves Deal Fee

Nordic Capital has denied it is liable to pay £15 million ($20 million) to Addere Capital as a success fee for its takeover of wealth manager Hargreaves Lansdown, saying in a London court filing that the financial adviser had not come up with the idea.
December 05, 2025
Ex-Barclays VP's Discrimination Suit Trimmed Further

A London tribunal has further whittled down a discrimination case brought by a former Barclays vice president, slamming the financier's failure to furnish his "scattergun" allegations with sufficient detail.
December 05, 2025
UK Watchdogs Plan To Spur £223B Mutual Financial Sector

Two finance watchdogs unveiled plans to boost growth in the U.K. mutual banking and insurance sector on Friday, part of the government's plan to double the size of the £223 billion ($297.5 billion) market.
December 05, 2025
StanChart Settles Investors' £1.5B Iran Sanctions Claim

Standard Chartered announced Friday it has agreed to a settlement in a £1.5 billion ($2 billion) claim brought by investors who said they suffered losses after the bank made allegedly untrue or misleading statements about its noncompliance with Iranian sanctions.
December 04, 2025
Lending Biz CEO Settles Share Transfer Row With Ex-Director

The chief executive of a lending company has settled his claim in a London court that a former business partner forced him to hand over shares in the company by inventing a fraud allegation.
December 04, 2025
ICO Challenges Tribunal's Ruling On Dixons Data Breach

The U.K. Information Commissioner's Office asked an appeals court Thursday to overturn a tribunal finding that pseudonymous information stolen from electronics retailer Dixons Carphone in a privacy breach was not covered by data protection rules.
December 04, 2025
Ex-Oil Biz Director's Claim Trimmed In €143M Case

A London judge has blocked two men's claims against a Singaporean oil company's directors in a €143.8 million ($166.8 million) forgery and payment diversion case, but allowed part of their case against a man they allege controlled the company to continue.
December 04, 2025
EU Parliament Urged To Act On Gaps In Pensions Savings

European savers deserve better returns and stronger consumer protections to ensure they have adequate pension pots, policy advocates have claimed, warning that reform is necessary to ensure citizens have sufficient resources in retirement.
December 04, 2025
Smaller Audit Firms Gaining UK Market Share, Watchdog Says

Smaller auditors are starting to challenge the dominance of the Big Four firms for scrutinizing the finances of the country's biggest and most important companies, the accounting watchdog said Thursday.
December 04, 2025
Gov't To Address Pension Inflation In New Bill

The government has said it will use its current set of pension reforms to push through long-awaited inflation-linked increases to the retirement benefits of older workers.
December 04, 2025
EU Reveals Plan To Boost Financial Market Integration

The European Commission unveiled a package of financial market reforms on Thursday, aimed at dismantling long-standing barriers to trade and creating a streamlined single capital market within the bloc of 27 nations.
December 04, 2025
Credit Suisse Settles $99M Margin Call Dispute

Credit Suisse's English broker-dealer entity has reached a settlement in a $99 million claim brought by an investment company that had alleged it breached a prime brokerage agreement by unlawfully selling off shares in a South African mobile phone company.
December 04, 2025
Legal Challenge Withdrawn After Gov't Pensions U-Turn

Campaigners fighting for compensation over historical failings on payments of women's state pensions have scored a win after the government agreed to reconsider its decision not to create a redress program within 12 weeks.
December 03, 2025
EU Adds Russia To Money-Laundering Blacklist

The European Commission said Wednesday that it has added Russia to a list of high-risk countries in order to protect the European Union against financial crime.

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

A Look At Factors Affecting Ombudsman Complaint Trends

Lawyers at Womble Bond provide an analysis of the Financial Ombudsman Service's complaint trends in 2025, highlighting the impact of changes within the FOS and external factors on the financial sector's redress system.
What To Know About FCA's Short Selling Regime Proposals

Although the Financial Conduct Authority’s recent proposals for changes to the U.K. short selling regime do not materially alter the rules, targeted reforms designed to reduce the administrative burden placed on position holders will be welcomed by market participants, say lawyers at McDermott.
How BoE Stablecoin Proposals May Reshape UK Payments

The Bank of England’s proposals for a sterling-denominated systemic stablecoin system amount to a substantial new regime, but it has a low-risk appetite for any change that would result in payment obligations migrating to a private stablecoin ledger and its tentativeness toward wholesale settlement is disappointing, say lawyers at Norton Rose.
Why EU's FDI Screening Proposals Require Careful Balance

The European Commission’s proposals to harmonize EU foreign direct investment screening regimes at the member state level require a trilogue between the commission, Parliament and council, which means political tensions need to be resolved in order to reach agreement on the five key reforms, say lawyers at Arnold & Porter.
OFSI Proposals Signal Greater Focus On Enforcement Activity

The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation’s proposed financial sanctions reforms, with risks of higher penalties and more stringent disclosure requirements for U.K. banks and companies, reflect the agency’s evolution into a more sophisticated and robust enforcement regulator, says Irene Polieri at Gibson Dunn.
How Restructuring Reforms Will Streamline Insolvency Plans

The recently published revised practice statement on schemes of arrangement and restructuring plans promises midmarket businesses efficiency without diluting safeguards, positioning schemes as inclusive tools rather than elite options, say lawyers at Addleshaw Goddard.
How 2nd Circ. Decision Extends CFTC's Extraterritorial Reach

The Second Circuit recently concluded in U.S. v. Phillips that the Commodity Exchange Act extends to entirely foreign conduct if a victim of the conduct is based in the U.S., suggesting there is a heightened risk that foreign swap transactions will be susceptible to U.S. regulation when U.S. counterparties are involved, say attorneys at Skadden.
EBA Proposals Signal Overhaul Of EU 3rd-Party Risk Rules

The European Banking Authority’s plans to extend third-party risk controls to non-ICT services, which may be finalized by the end of the year, will place a significant compliance and operational burden on in-scope entities, which should not be underestimated, say lawyers at Travers Smith.
FCA Proposals Reduce Consumer Duty Compliance Burden

The Financial Conduct Authority’s recent proposals to streamline the consumer duty regime represent a pragmatic response to industry concerns, with a move toward sector-specific supervision and potentially narrowing its scope for wholesale and cross-border business, say lawyers at Simmons & Simmons.
How New Companies House ID Rules Affect Businesses

Lawyers at Shepherd & Wedderburn discuss the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act’s new mandatory identity verification requirements for all company directors and persons with significant control, set to go live next week, which aim to curb fraud by improving the reliability of information held by Companies House.
What EU Securitization Proposals Signal For Risk Transfers

If implemented, recent amendments to the European Union securitization framework are expected to have an unambiguously positive effect on significant risk transfer markets, providing greater consistency and necessary flexibility, say lawyers at McDermott.
Role Of UK Investment Act Is Evolving In M&A Deals

With merger and acquisition activity likely to increase in light of the government’s new defense industrial strategy, the role of the National Security and Investment Act will come into sharper focus, and its recent annual report confirms that scrutiny is intensifying, say lawyers at Kingsley Napley.
What To Know About EU's Reimposition Of Sanctions On Iran

Lawyers at Steptoe discuss the European Union’s recent reimposition of trade and financial sanctions against Iran, which will introduce legal and operational constraints that affect EU companies' commercial activities in the region.
FCA Crypto Proposals Herald Tougher Oversight For Firms

The Financial Conduct Authority’s recent proposals to extend regulation to crypto-asset activities will bring parity, but implementation of the operational resilience requirements and enhanced financial crime controls will present compliance challenges, says Michelle Kirschner at Gibson Dunn.
EU Investment Reporting Rules Letup Signals Pragmatic Shift

While investment companies remain subject to far-reaching disclosure obligations under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation, new guidance from the European Commission on reporting passive limited partner commitments represents a drastic simplification and burden reduction, say lawyers at Paul Weiss.