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Financial Services UK
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July 18, 2025
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London
This past week in London has seen the former owner of British oil refinery Prax Group sued following the collapse of his business empire, a unit of Shard Credit Partners target a married couple believed to have inflated the value of their companies before selling them, and Aerofoil Energy reignite patent action against AFE Group over the design of its F1-inspired cooling units.
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July 18, 2025
Nordic Marketplace Fined $1M For Insider Info Rule Break
Vend Marketplaces ASA said Friday that the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway has fined the online marketplace platform 10 million Norwegian krone ($1 million) for "dissemination of insider information."
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July 18, 2025
FCA Floats Protection For 'Buy Now, Pay Later' Borrowers
The Financial Conduct Authority proposed new requirements on Friday as it seeks to regulate the booming "buy now, pay later" credit sector, amid concerns about protection for consumers and rising levels of household debt.
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July 17, 2025
EU Lawmakers Push For Tax Data Hub To Combat Evasion
Members of the European Parliament approved proposals for tax changes across the European Union, including a tax data hub to streamline compliance across the bloc and help combat tax avoidance and evasion.
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July 17, 2025
UK Risk Report Flags Persistent Money Laundering Threat
Money laundering risk for British firms remains high as criminal cash is being generated at over £12 billion ($16.1 billion) a year, with financial and legal services deemed particularly vulnerable, according to the government's National Risk Assessment 2025 released Thursday.
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July 17, 2025
UK Audit Watchdog Plans Scaled Rules For Small Businesses
Britain's audit watchdog on Thursday proposed amended guidance for companies auditing smaller businesses amid concerns that industry standards do not reflect the needs of firms with less complex requirements.
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July 17, 2025
Lords Vote To Create Duty To Probe Whistleblowers' Concerns
Employers would be obliged to investigate concerns raised by whistleblowers under an amendment to the Employment Rights Bill put forward by the House of Lords.
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July 17, 2025
Pensions Experts Call For 'Urgent' Adequacy Review
The government must urgently press ahead with its review into the adequacy of pensions savings in Britian amid growing concern about the state of retirement prospects in the U.K., a research body has warned.
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July 18, 2025
CORRECTED: South Korea Can Challenge $48.5M Award In Samsung Merger Case
Correction: An earlier version of the story misstated the nature of the panel's decision. That has now been corrected.
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July 17, 2025
Gov't Set To Publish Reports On UK Pensions Saving Levels
The government will release detailed reports on Monday that experts believe could be a springboard for its long-awaited review of the state of the country's pensions adequacy.
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July 17, 2025
Two Arrested In Illegal Crypto-ATM Investigation
Two people have been arrested on suspicion of money laundering and running an illegal cryptocurrency exchange after an operation in which seven crypto-ATMs were seized, the finance industry watchdog said on Thursday.
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July 16, 2025
Ex-NCA Officer Jailed For Theft Of Bitcoin In Dark Web Case
An ex-National Crime Agency investigator was sentenced to five years and six months in prison in an English criminal court Wednesday for stealing 50 bitcoin in May 2017 during an investigation into dark web drug dealing, the agency said.
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July 23, 2025
A&O Shearman Hires Finance Pro From Linklaters In Italy
A&O Shearman has hired a leveraged finance specialist from Linklaters LLP in Italy to boost its private capital services for clients.
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July 16, 2025
Watchdog Warns Of Continued Quality Gap Among Auditors
Britain's accounting watchdog has said that audit quality continues to improve in the U.K., although it raised concerns about the widening quality gap between the biggest companies and their rivals.
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July 16, 2025
Dubai Bank Wins Document Fraud Claim in £80M Debt Fight
A judgment that blocked a Dubai bank from recovering £80 million ($107 million) from three members of an Emirati business family was fraudulently obtained with bogus documents, a London court has ruled.
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July 16, 2025
Troutman Pepper-Led SPAC To Buy UK FinTech For £26M
Blank-check company Honye Financial Services Ltd. said Wednesday that it has agreed to buy Zoyo Capital Ltd., a financial technology company based in London, for £26 million ($35 million) in a reverse takeover to create a digital securities broker platform.
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July 16, 2025
UK Gov't 'Confident' Mandated Pension Investment Unneeded
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said she is confident that the government will not need to mandate pension funds to invest in U.K. assets, amid fears that new legislation would require retirement savings plans to do so.
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July 16, 2025
Freight Co. Loses Interim Bid To Lift HMRC Export Controls
A warehouse operator and drinks merchant have lost a bid for interim relief against U.K. tax authority export controls imposed over tax fraud concerns, with a London court ruling they had an "uphill task" to prove the measures were unreasonable.
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July 16, 2025
Senior Managers Regime Revamp Risks Letting In Bad Apples
The City watchdog's planned overhaul of its senior managers regime risks allowing people with records of misconduct to slip into financial firms because of the relaxation of rules on references and criminal checks, according to lawyers.
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July 16, 2025
Barclays Fined £42M For Failures In Financial Crime Controls
The Financial Conduct Authority said Wednesday that it has hit Barclays Bank PLC with fines totaling £42 million ($56 million) for two separate failings in its management of financial crime risk, which could have exposed the bank to criminals laundering money.
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July 15, 2025
UK's Large Employers Pledge To Prioritize Pension Outcomes
More than 20 of Britain's largest employers, including Goldman Sachs and Tesco, have committed to prioritizing retirement outcomes for their workers when they choose pension providers rather than focusing on reducing costs, the City of London Corp. has said.
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July 15, 2025
PwC Settles Property Biz's £9M Tax Negligence Case
PwC has settled claims that it should pay £8.9 million ($12 million) for causing a property group to be penalized by the U.K. tax authority after the Big Four accountancy firm allegedly miscalculated its tax liabilities and incorrectly priced its properties.
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July 15, 2025
Insurers Warned Over Credit Risk From Adopting AI
Insurers that adopt artificial intelligence tools without properly managing their associated risks could face financial damage and harm to their reputations, a credit ratings agency warned on Tuesday.
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July 15, 2025
Lawyer And Accountant Face 2027 Money Laundering Trial
A solicitor who is a former political candidate and an accountant charged by the National Crime Agency with money laundering are set to face trial in 2027.
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July 15, 2025
Court Refuses To Rule Bali Villa Sale Breached Asset Freeze
A London court said Tuesday that it will not decide whether the wife of a former Russian bank executive had committed contempt of court by selling her villa in Bali 10 days before an asset freeze against her was lifted.
Expert Analysis
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How Companies House Enforcement Powers Are Growing
Companies House's recently increased ability to assess what material is submitted to the U.K. register of companies, and to proportionately enforce where violations have occurred, may require some degree of cultural shift within many companies, say lawyers at Greenberg Traurig.
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How New Sanctions Office Will Affect UK Trade Landscape
The recent launch of the Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation will help to create a more comprehensive civil enforcement terrain, but the potential for multiple investigations means businesses should reassess their systems to ensure they do not inadvertently incur civil liability, says Julia Pearce at Robertson Pugh.
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FCA Savings Update Focuses On Good Customer Outcomes
The Financial Conduct Authority’s recent cash savings update emphasizes its expectations of firms to deliver fair value to consumers by documenting the rationale for actions at each stage, considering customer communications and demonstrating that potential harms are acted upon, say Matt Handfield, Charlotte Rendle and Caroline Hunter-Yeats at Simmons & Simmons.
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5 Takeaways From UK Justices' Arbitration Jurisdiction Ruling
The U.K. Supreme Court's recent judgment in UniCredit Bank v. RusChemAlliance, upholding an injunction against a lawsuit that attempted to shift arbitration away from a contractually designated venue, provides helpful guidance on when such injunctions may be available, say attorneys at Fladgate.
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FCA's Broad Proposals Aim To Protect Customer Funds
The Financial Conduct Authority’s proposed changes to payments firms’ safeguarding requirements, with enhanced recordkeeping and fund segregation, seek to bolster existing regulatory provisions, but by introducing a statutory trust concept to cover customers’ assets, represent a set of onerous rules, says Matt Hancock at Greenberg Traurig.
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Takeaways From Upcoming Payment Fraud Delay Legislation
Lawyers at Hogan Lovells discuss what to know about new legislation that will allow payment service providers to delay payments when third-party fraud is suspected, and share pointers for providers to consider ahead of the Oct. 30 effective date.
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Modernizing UK Trade Settlement Standard: The Road Ahead
Andrew Tsang and Tom Bacon at BCLP consider the rationale and challenges of a potential U.K. trade settlement acceleration, part of an initiative to modernize the financial market infrastructure, and suggest that incorporating distributed ledger technology as a synchronized recording system would facilitate the move.
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Analyzing The Implications Of 1st FCA Crypto ATM Crackdown
The Financial Conduct Authority’s recent criminal prosecution of Olumide Osunkoya, its first enforcement action against a crypto-asset trading firm's owner, is an unambiguous sign of the regulator’s commitment to actively pursue transgressors, but may be a hindrance to the U.K. crypto industry, says Asim Arshad at Lawrence Stephens.
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Draft Merger Control Guidance Allows CMA To Cast Wide Net
The Competition and Markets Authority's recent draft merger control guidance, reflecting the regulator's strengthened powers under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Act, introduces extensive change and potential procedural improvements, specifically concerning reviews of private equity firms, say lawyers at Travers Smith.
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Key Points From Cayman's Beneficial Ownership Regime
While recent expansion of the Cayman Islands Beneficial Ownership Act's scope means it now encompasses many entities with previously minimal obligations, the changes ensure a welcome level playing field with workable alternative routes to compliance, says Lucy Frew at Walkers Global.
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HMRC Transfer Pricing Guide A Vital Resource For Businesses
HM Revenue & Customs' recent guidelines on common transfer pricing compliance risks should be required reading for affected businesses in indicating HMRC's expected benchmark for documents and policies, say Tomoko Ikawa and Kapisha Vyas at Simmons & Simmons.
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Insights From FRC's Report On Good Corporate Governance
Although the Financial Reporting Council’s recent report on private companies opting to follow the Wates principles has identified improvements, it is important for organizations to provide transparent disclosures and avoid boilerplate, tickbox filings, says Tessa Hastie at BCLP.
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What To Know About The UK Overseas Funds Regime
The U.K.’s overseas funds regime is now open for applications, providing a simplified way of offering a foreign fund to U.K. retail investors, and the Financial Conduct Authority's clear policy statement on implementation should ease the transition process from the existing scheme, say lawyers at Dechert.
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Takeaways From SRA Consumer Protection Review
While the Solicitors Regulation Authority prepares to announce its findings later this year following its consumer protection consultation, the topic of handling client funds is very much alive in the legal industry, with polarizing views on what should happen as a result of the review, says Claire Van Der Zant at Shieldpay.
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Reflecting On 12 Months Of The EU Foreign Subsidy Regime
New European Commission guidance, addressing procedural questions and finally providing clarity on “distortion” in merger control and public procurement, offers an opportunity to reflect on the year since foreign subsidy notification obligations were introduced, say lawyers at Fried Frank.