Financial Services UK

  • September 02, 2025

    UK Gov't To Fix Fallout From Virgin Media Pensions Ruling

    The government has floated new rules for pension funds that experts say could offer a way out of the legal limbo they've faced since a landmark court judgment more than a year ago.

  • September 02, 2025

    Clifford Chance-Led Online Marketplace Plans Swiss IPO

    Online marketplace owner Swiss Marketplace Group AG said on Tuesday that it is planning to float its existing shares on the SIX stock exchange of Switzerland in an initial public offering.

  • September 02, 2025

    Textor Cites Missing Docs To Fight $93M Share Buyout Claim

    The owner of a portfolio of professional football clubs told a London court he wasn't obliged to pay $93.6 million for an investment vehicle's stake in his company, arguing that it failed to provide documents needed for the transaction.

  • September 02, 2025

    Payments Co.'s NFT Patent Denied Over 'Flawed' Fraud Claim

    U.S. payments company Blackhawk Network Inc. has been denied a U.K. patent for a method of buying non-fungible tokens using a scannable code, after officials found that the system does not prevent fraud as the business had claimed.

  • September 02, 2025

    Slaughter And May Guides Shawbrook On Acquisition Deal

    Retail bank Shawbrook Group PLC said on Tuesday that it will acquire ThinCats, a lender to small and midsized companies, to help to deliver "a highly attractive return on invested capital."

  • September 02, 2025

    Monte Dei Paschi Sweetens Mediobanca Bid To €13.5B

    Monte dei Paschi said Tuesday that it has increased its takeover offer for rival Italian lender Mediobanca with a €750 million ($872 million) cash sweetener in an attempt to win shareholders' approval, as the proposed deal reaches a value of €13.5 billion.

  • September 02, 2025

    Wealth Manager Rathbones Launches 1st Share Buyback

    Rathbones Group PLC rolled out its first stock repurchase program, which will be worth as much as £50 million ($67 million), on Tuesday after it recently reported a boost in its cash reserves.

  • September 01, 2025

    Top Commercial Dispute Rulings Of 2025: Midyear Report

    England's courts have dealt in the first half of 2025 with a multibillion-dollar legal dispute with insurers over planes stuck in Russia, slashed the exposure faced by banks over motor finance claims and set out how the proceeds from a landmark class action against Mastercard should be distributed.

  • September 01, 2025

    Utah Bank Sues Insurer For $10M Over Aircraft Engine 'Loss'

    Bank of Utah has sued Russian insurance company AlfaStrakhovanie for up to $10 million over a jet engine allegedly stuck in Russia since the country's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

  • September 01, 2025

    Insurers Urged To Address Gap In Europe's Net Zero Coverage

    A trade body for European risk managers urged insurers on Monday to close gaps in coverage for technologies that are critical to the bloc's transition to net zero emissions.

  • September 01, 2025

    Crédit Agricole Unit Gets Regulatory Nod For Swiss Bank Buy

    French banking giant Crédit Agricole said Monday that its subsidiary Indosuez has finalized the acquisition of Banque Thaler after winning regulatory approval, bringing the unit's total assets under management to almost €220 billion ($258 billion).

  • September 01, 2025

    Day Trader Brothers Avoid Prison For Insider Dealing

    Two sibling day traders were handed suspended prison sentences on Monday for using insider information to trade for four years, taking more than £60,000 ($81,200) in profits, as a judge said they were "dishonest operators" who harmed the efficacy of the markets.

  • September 01, 2025

    DLA Piper Steers £1M Philippine Bank Pension Buy-In

    The pension plan of the U.K. arm of private lender Philippine National Bank has agreed a £1 million ($1.35 million) full-scheme buy-in with Just Group, the financial services company said Monday.

  • September 01, 2025

    CPS Says New Economic Crime Plans Could Land This Year

    New plans to tackle economic crime by creating an environment in which criminals "fear both detection and prosecution" will land later in 2025, a senior British prosecutor said Monday.

  • August 29, 2025

    UK Bank Shares Sink After Report Calls For Windfall Tax

    Bank stocks sank Friday in the U.K. after a think tank said the government should adopt a windfall tax on profits directly tied to the Bank of England's quantitative easing program, which is costing HM Treasury about £22 billion ($30 billion) annually.

  • August 29, 2025

    New Fraud Law Crackdown Will Take Years, Lawyers Warn

    Anti-fraud enforcement agencies will soon fire the starting gun on major reforms that will hold companies criminally liable for fraud — but the race to court will be slow, and it will take years before prosecutors can claim success, lawyers say.

  • August 29, 2025

    Ocean Wilsons Rebukes Shareholder Concern On £900M Deal

    Bermudian investor Ocean Wilsons said Friday that it will go ahead with its proposed all-stock merger with local rival Hansa that will create a company with total net assets of more than £900 million ($1.2 billion), despite a shareholder's concerns.

  • August 29, 2025

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    This past week in London has seen Prosecco DOC Consortium bring an intellectual property claim against a distributor, the Serious Fraud Office bring a civil recovery claim against the ex-wife of a solicitor jailed over a £19.5 million fraud scheme, and law firm Joseph Hage Aaronson & Bremen LLP sue its former client, the bankrupt Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • August 29, 2025

    Man Gets 10 Years In Prison For £8M Conveyancing Fraud

    A man who scammed a total of more than £8 million ($11 million) from victims using multiple false identities was sentenced to a decade of imprisonment at a London court on Friday as the judge said he is a "thoroughly dishonest individual."

  • August 29, 2025

    Women's State Pension Redress Decision Gets Court Date

    Campaigners fighting the government over its decision not to launch a compensation program for historic failings over the women's state pension said Friday that the High Court would hear its case in December.

  • August 29, 2025

    Ex-Barclays Traders Push For Review After SFO Admits Errors

    Three former traders convicted of rigging benchmark interest rates said Friday they will try to get their cases referred to an independent commission as soon as possible after the Serious Fraud Office admitted their convictions may be unsound.

  • August 29, 2025

    US Tariffs Spur Asset Allocation Review By UK Pension Funds

    Volatility in markets caused by Donald Trump's Liberation Day tariffs has prompted U.K. pension funds to reassess their long-term U.S. equity allocations, a consultancy said Friday.

  • August 29, 2025

    FCA Urged To Shield Firms Offering Targeted Support

    Financial services companies could be held back from offering "targeted support" to customers, out of concern they could be ordered to fork out compensation down the road, a financial adviser warned.  

  • August 29, 2025

    Finance Sector 'Risks Losing Talent' Over Class Ceiling

    Just two in five young people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds believe the financial services industry is "open to them," according to research by an insurance company.

  • August 29, 2025

    White & Case-Led JTC Rejects Fund Manager Permira's Offer

    Jersey-based fund and corporate services provider JTC PLC said Friday it has rejected a "preliminary and conditional non-binding" takeover proposal from British investment company Permira Advisers LLP.

Expert Analysis

  • New UK Short Selling Rules Diverge From EU Regs

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    Although forthcoming changes to the U.K.’s short selling regulatory regime represent a welcome relaxation of restrictions and simplification of reporting processes, participants active in both the U.K. and EU markets will need to ensure compliance with two quite different sets of rules, says Ezra Zahabi at Akin.

  • What Latest FCA Portfolio Letter Means For Payments Firms

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    Charlotte Hill at Charles Russell discusses the Financial Conduct Authority’s recent portfolio letter to CEOs of payments firms, outlining the regulator’s expectations, and the steps that these companies may now need to take to ensure compliance and operational effectiveness.

  • ECB Guide Targets Harmonized Cyber Testing Approach

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    The European Central Bank’s recently updated guidance for testing organizational resilience against sophisticated cyberattacks is a significant step forward, highlighting the importance of a unified approach to financial sector cybersecurity and alignment with Digital Operational Resilience Act requirements, say Simon Onyons and Nebu Varghese at FTI Consulting.

  • Opinion

    Prospects For New Fraud Prevention Prosecution Look Slim

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    With the Labour Party's inherited patchwork of Conservative Party corporate crime legislation for preventing fraud and corruption, the forthcoming Economic Crime Act’s failure to prevent fraud offense is unlikely to be successful in assisting prosecutors bring companies to justice, says Matthew Cowie at Rahman Ravelli.

  • What's Next After FCA Drops Troubled 'Name And Shame' Plan

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    A closer look at the Financial Conduct Authority's recent decision to toss its widely unpopular proposal changing the test for announcing enforcement investigations may reveal how we got here, why the regulator changed course, and where it’s headed next, say lawyers at Hogan Lovells.

  • UK Refusal Of US Extradition Request May Set New Standard

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    The recent U.K. Supreme Court ruling in El-Khouri v. U.S., denying a U.S. extradition request, overturns a long-held precedent and narrows how U.K. courts must decide such requests, potentially signaling a broader reevaluation of U.K. extradition law, say lawyers at Dechert and Kingsley Napley.

  • Insights On ESMA's Alternative Investment Fund Consultation

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    Aaron Mulcahy at Maples Group discusses key points from the European Securities and Markets Authority’s recent consultation on open-ended loan-originating alternative investment funds, highlighting the growth in semi-liquid evergreen funds and explaining ESMA’s proposed standards.

  • How UK Supreme Court May Assess Russia Sanctions Cases

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    In two recent U.K. Supreme Court cases challenging the U.K. Russia sanctions regime, the forthcoming judgments are likely to focus on proportionality and European Convention on Human Rights compatibility, and will undoubtedly influence how future challenges are shaped, says Leigh Crestohl at Zaiwalla.

  • New UK Order Offers Welcome Clarity To Crypto Staking Rules

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    The recently effective Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 Amendment Order clarifies that arrangements for qualifying crypto-asset staking do not amount to a collective investment scheme, and by addressing an issue that curtailed staking activities in the U.K., facilitates the use of that practice, says Andrew Henderson at Goodwin.

  • How EU's Anticoercion Tool May Counter New US Tariffs

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    The never-before-used anticoercion instrument could allow the European Union to respond to the imposition of U.S. tariffs, potentially effective March 12, and gives EU companies a voice in the process as it provides for consultation with economic operators at different steps throughout the procedure, say lawyers at Crowell & Moring.

  • Takeaways From BoE Progress Updates On UK Digital Pound

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    The Bank of England’s recent update on a decision concerning a digital pound indicates that there is scope for innovation in the payments landscape that can help to boost economic growth, while keeping the U.K. firmly in the global conversation on digital currency development, say lawyers at Hogan Lovells.

  • Key Themes From New PRA Supervisory Letters

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    Two recent supervisory letters from the Prudential Regulation Authority outline priorities for international banks and U.K. deposit takers for the year ahead, including the need to strengthen risk culture, manage credit risk and govern data integrity, all of which indicate that banks will face greater regulatory interest in their internal controls, say lawyers at Skadden.

  • Banker Remuneration Proposals Could Affect More Than Pay

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    The Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority’s pending proposals to reduce banker remuneration restrictions bring obvious personal financial advantages for bankers, but may have repercussions that result in increased scrutiny of bonus payments and wider changes to workplace culture and overall accountability, say lawyers at Fox Williams.

  • Rethinking 'No Comment' For Clients Facing Public Crises

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    “No comment” is no longer a cost-free or even a viable public communications strategy for companies in crisis, and counsel must tailor their guidance based on a variety of competing factors to help clients emerge successfully, says Robert Bowers at Moore & Van Allen.

  • EU Report May Influence Regulation Of Decentralized Finance

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    The European supervisory authorities’ recent report on decentralized finance highlights the major regulatory challenges and increased cybersecurity risks of this ecosystem, and will likely provide useful guidance on how the market could be regulated to limit potential risks for investors, say Hubert de Vauplane and Hugo Bordet at Morgan Lewis.

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