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Financial Services UK
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April 02, 2024
Cost Of COVID Fraud Crackdown Leaves Authorities In A Bind
As British authorities dial back their worst fears about the scale of fraud linked to COVID-19 relief loans, legal experts say the initial crackdown to prosecute rogue directors has faltered as the costs start to outweigh the benefits.
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April 02, 2024
UK Makes 2027 Commitment To 1-Day Securities Settlement
HM Treasury has said that Britain will start a one-day cycle for securities trade settlement by December 2027, bringing the country into harmony with other markets to reduce the risk that those involved will fail to meet their obligations.
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April 02, 2024
Small UK Cos. 'Freed' From VAT Payments By Threshold Rise
Some 28,000 businesses have been "freed" from paying value-added tax as the registration threshold rose from £85,000 ($106,000) to £90,000 in revenue, HM Treasury has said.
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April 02, 2024
Insurers Say Pension Models Could Undercut Auto-Enrollment
Government plans to introduce new pension pot models risk undermining the success of automatic enrollment and could have a negative impact on retirement saver outcomes, the Association of British Insurers has warned.
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April 02, 2024
UBS To Launch $2B Buyback After Credit Suisse Deal Closes
UBS said Tuesday that it will launch a share buyback program to return up to $2 billion to shareholders as the Swiss lender prepares to kickstart its capital returns after its takeover of Credit Suisse AG is finalized in June.
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April 01, 2024
Autonomy Paid Whistleblower $750K Over Firing, Jury Told
Autonomy's former U.S. chief financial officer testified Monday in the California criminal fraud trial of ex-CEO Michael Lynch that he was fired after blowing the whistle to British regulators about accounting irregularities, and revealed that Autonomy later paid him $750,000 to resolve his wrongful termination claims.
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March 28, 2024
Feds Say Ex-OneCoin Atty Should Serve 'Substantial' Time
Manhattan federal prosecutors have requested a "substantial" amount of prison time for a Bulgarian woman who worked on the legal team at the fraudulent OneCoin cryptocurrency exchange, but said the sentence should fall below the guidelines range of 10 years.
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March 28, 2024
Ex-Plastics Co. Manager Found Guilty Of Insider Dealing
A former manager at a plastics company was found guilty of insider dealing on Thursday by a London jury, but his friend was acquitted of similar charges in connection with the £261 million ($329 million) purchase of a rival company.
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March 28, 2024
Insurers Must Face £13B Russia-Stranded Planes Suits In UK
Major insurers including Allianz, AXA and Liberty Mutual will have to face £13 billion ($16.4 billion) worth of claims over planes stranded in Russia after the invasion of Ukraine as a London judge on Thursday ruled against attempts to move the claims to Moscow.
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March 28, 2024
Developer Says Law Firm Flubbed FOS Appeal
A property developer is suing its former lawyers for just over £700,000 ($883,500) for negligence after the firm allegedly failed to file a complaint against a now-infamous turnaround unit of the Royal Bank of Scotland when its investments turned sour in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
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March 28, 2024
Traders' Loss Raises High Bar For Bankers To Clear Names
The failure of two former traders to overturn their rate-rigging convictions could mark the end of the road for others convicted in connection with the scandal because of the reluctance of the English courts to topple precedent, lawyers say.
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March 28, 2024
EU Watchdogs To Relax On OTC Derivative Clearing Breaches
The European Union's securities regulator has said it expects national regulators not to prioritize supervisory action against banks or insurers that fail to clear some over-the-counter derivatives with foreign pension schemes, ahead of legal exemption.
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March 28, 2024
NCA Logs 5% Decline In Suspicious Activity Reports Last Year
The National Crime Agency reported Thursday a 5% decline in reports about potential criminal activities such as suspected money laundering and terrorist financing to its intelligence unit received during the financial year that ended March 2023.
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March 28, 2024
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London
This past week in London has seen investors target fraudsters who ran a fake film tax scheme, Barclays Bank sue privately owned Russian bank PJSC Sovcombank, easyGroup bring a trademark infringement claim against online casino TGI Entertainment for its "easybet" word sign, and a bioethanol fuel company hit high-profile individuals connected to the collapsed Elysian Fuels scheme. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.
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March 28, 2024
UK Signs Accounting Standards Deal With Australia
Britain's audit watchdog said Thursday it has secured a deal on accounting standards with Australian authorities to make it easier for auditors to work between both countries.
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March 28, 2024
Investors Told To Show Standing For £1.4B StanChart Claim
A London judge on Thursday ordered part of a group of investors suing Standard Chartered PLC for £1.4 billion ($1.7 billion) — for allegedly downplaying how much it had breached U.S. sanctions — to prove they are entitled to bring the claim.
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March 28, 2024
Crowe Denies £5M Negligence Claim Over Audits Of Wine Co.
A London-based accounting firm has hit back against a £5 million ($6.3 million) negligence claim by the liquidators of a failed wine investment company, saying it acted with the "care and skill" of a "reasonably competent" auditor.
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March 28, 2024
Struggling Lender Amigo Raises Cash, Eyes Reverse Takeover
Amigo Holdings PLC said on Thursday that it has raised cash and is looking for a reverse takeover target so that it can continue operating as a listed company, amid the planned liquidation of its troubled subprime lending arm.
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March 28, 2024
Abrdn Property Plans Wind-Down After Merger Rejected
Abrdn Property Income Trust Ltd. has said it is planning a managed wind-down after its shareholders voted against an all-share merger with Custodian Property Income REIT PLC that valued it at £237 million ($299 million).
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March 28, 2024
UK To Nullify NDAs That Stop People Reporting Crimes
Non-disclosure agreements that prevent victims from reporting potential crimes are to become unenforceable, the government said Thursday as it announced plans to "clarify" the law governing the controversial contracts.
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March 27, 2024
No New Trial For Hedge Fund Boss In Forex Rigging Case
A New York federal judge on Friday refused to acquit or call for a new trial for a U.K.-based hedge fund chief convicted of illegally manipulating a currency exchange rate, rejecting his argument that his alleged conduct lacked sufficient ties to the United States.
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March 27, 2024
Evidence On Ex-Mozambique Official Stays In $2B Fraud Suit
A former Mozambique finance minister can't keep evidence from his phone out of a case alleging his involvement in a $2 billion scheme to siphon government-backed project funds from that country after a federal judge in Brooklyn on Wednesday backed the phone's seizure and search.
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March 27, 2024
Wedlake Bell Can't Get Early Exit From Trust Negligence Case
A London court dismissed a law firm's attempt to escape a damages claim for its admitted negligent management of a trust, finding Wednesday that the law is "in a state of development" about the scope of a solicitor's duty in that situation.
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March 27, 2024
StanChart Urges Court To Toss Part Of £1.4B Sanctions Suit
Standard Chartered PLC urged a London judge Wednesday to block part of a group of investors' £1.4 billion ($1.77 billion) claim against it alleging that the bank had downplayed how much it breached U.S. sanctions against Iran by hundreds of billions of dollars, alleging some of the investors had not shown they had standing.
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March 27, 2024
BoE Finds Increasing Fear Of Financial Risk From AI
The Bank of England said on Wednesday the proportion of banks, insurers and other firms that find artificial intelligence one of the greatest risks to the finance system has doubled in six months.
Expert Analysis
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Examining PayPal's Venture Into The Stablecoin Market
PayPal’s recent release of a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar may represent a groundbreaking innovation or could fail as others have before it, and policymakers in the U.K. and the EU will be watching the impact of this new crypto token with a keen eye, say Ben Lee and Dion Seymour at Andersen.
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High Court Dechert Ruling Offers Litigation Privilege Lessons
While the recent High Court ruling in Al Sadeq v. Dechert LLP, which concerned torture conspiracy allegations against the firm, held that litigation privilege can be claimed by a nonparty to proceedings, the exact boundaries of privilege aren't always clear-cut and may necessitate analyzing the underlying principles, says Scott Speirs at Norton Rose.
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FCA Consumer Duty May Pose Enforcement Challenges
The new U.K. Financial Conduct Authority consumer duty sets higher standards of customer protection and transparency for financial services firms, but given the myriad products available across the sector, policing the regulations is going to be a challenging task, says Alessio Ianiello at Keller Postman.
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UK Insolvency Reform Review Shows Measures Are Working
The U.K. Insolvency Service's recently published review of legislative reforms to the corporate insolvency regime demonstrates that despite being underutilized, the measures have been shown to help viable companies survive, and with the current difficult economic environment, will likely be an important aspect of organizational restructuring going forward, says Kirsten Fulton-Fleming at Taylor Wessing.
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More UK Collective Actions On The Horizon After Forex Ruling
A U.K. appeals court's recent decision in Forex case Evans v. Barclays is likely to significantly widen the scope of opt-out collective proceedings that can be brought, paving the way for more class actions by prospective claimants who have previously been unable to bring individual claims, say Robin Henry and Tamara Davis at Collyer Bristow.
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FCA Listing Reform Proposals Aim To Modernize UK Markets
The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority's recent proposals to reform listing rules will enhance equities while retaining protections and high governance standards, and will also make the capital markets work more efficiently and competitively with other global markets, say lawyers at Greenberg Traurig.
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Takeaways From ICO's Action In NatWest Privacy Dispute
The U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office's latest intervention in the Nigel Farage NatWest Bank dispute highlights the importance of the legal responsibilities of all data processors in possession of sensitive information, and is a reminder that upholding bank customers' privacy rights is paramount, says James Kelliher at Keller Postman.
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How The OECD Global Tax Proposal Could Affect M&A
Following agreement on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Pillar Two proposal to introduce a global minimum tax, domestic implementation is expected to have a significant impact on international M&A transactions, with financial modeling, deal structuring, risk allocation and joint venture arrangements likely to be affected, say lawyers at Freshfields.
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How Russia Sanctions May Complicate Contract Obligations
Against the backdrop of recent comprehensive sanctions against Russia and Belarus, a review of recent U.K. case law clarifies that certain force majeure clauses likely cover trade sanctions, and that future litigation will further develop the scope of force majeure and frustration in the context of sanctions, says Frances Jenkins at Quillon Law.
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New Guidance Offers Clarity For Charities On ESG Investing
The need for charities to understand investing in line with environmental, social and governance aspirations has never been more pressing, and recently updated U.K. Charity Commission guidance should give trustees confidence to make decisions that are right for their organization, says Robert Nieri at Shoosmiths.
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US And EU Poised For Closer Ties In Tech Financial Market
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the European Commission are both concerned about the challenges posed by the increasing digitalization of financial products, such as the use of AI and new forms of credit, and by working together, the two regulators can share information and best practices, says Yulia Makarova at Cooley.
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FCA Case Failures Highlight Value Of Robust Investigation
The recent U.K. upper tribunal judgment in Seiler, Whitestone and Raitzin v. The Financial Conduct Authority, criticizing the regulator for accepting a narrative advanced by the firm, makes clear that such admissions must not get in the way of a proper investigation to enable agencies to target the correct individuals, say Tom Bushnell and Olivia Dwan at Hickman & Rose.
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UK Shares-Tax Proposals Offer Long-Awaited Modernization
The U.K. government's recent consultation on the introduction of a new tax on transactions in securities raises detailed legal and practical issues, but the prospect of a single digital stamp tax offering both streamlined legislation and administration will be welcomed, say Zoë Arnautov and Mark Sheiham at Simmons & Simmons.
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Directors Should Beware Reinvigorated UK Insolvency Service
The recent lengthy disqualification of Carillion directors serves as a salutary lesson to executives on the level of third-party scrutiny to which their actions may be exposed, and a reminder that the directors’ fiduciary duty to creditors is paramount once a company is irretrievably insolvent, says Ben Drew at Fladgate.
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The New Accountability Landscape For Financial Regulators
The preliminary-stage success of a group of U.K. lawmakers in a case against the Financial Conduct Authority highlights the significant hurdles for review of regulatory actions, but the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 creates additional visibility into the regulators' decision making, which may lead to an increase in judicial review activity, say attorneys at Cleary.