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Financial Services UK

FCA Auto Finance Redress Plan Open To Legal Challenge

Banks and vehicle financing companies are expected to mount legal challenges to the Financial Conduct Authority's £7.5 billion ($9.9 billion) motor finance compensation program, threatening to capsize the plan and probably delay its implementation for months.

Home Office sign outside the ministry's building in Whitehall, London.

Fraud Plan Puts FCA At Forefront Of UK Crypto-Crackdown

The Financial Conduct Authority has been given a lead role in targeting money laundering, crypto-assets and money transfer scams in a government fraud strategy involving multiple agencies, which lawyers expect will boost enforcement action and heap a new compliance burden on financial institutions.

Double exposure of coins in stacks with bar graph for financial and investment business in the background.

M&A, Deregulation Bring Reset To UK Asset Management

Consolidation of the asset management sector is ramping up as U.S. firms seek access to the domestic market and U.K. watchdogs loosen regulation in line with government-mandated pro-growth policies, which is expected to accelerate a spurt in dealmaking.

Ombudsman Poised To Take Consumer Duty Power From FCA

Pending legislative reforms to the Financial Ombudsman Service could hand the dispute-arbitrator power to assess whether businesses have complied with the consumer duty and other broad rules set by the Financial Conduct Authority, regulatory lawyers say.

April 14, 2026
Austria's BAWAG To Buy Irish Lender Permanent TSB For $1.9B

Austrian bank BAWAG PSK on Tuesday announced that it has agreed to acquire Irish lender Permanent TSB Group Holdings PLC in a €1.62 billion ($1.9 billion) deal, a move that comes roughly half a year after the government-owned lender put itself up for sale.
April 14, 2026
PwC Elevates UK Legal Chief To Global GC

PwC's general counsel and chief risk officer in the United Kingdom is now the next global general counsel, as the most recent top lawyer for the firm steps aside in preparation of her retirement, the company said Tuesday.
April 14, 2026
Bank Can't Slash £1.4M Payout For Director At Court

The highest court for some independent Commonwealth countries has rejected a Mauritian bank's appeal against a former director's unfair dismissal payout of almost £1.4 million ($1.9 million), dismissing the bank's argument that the executive's 37 years' employment was not continuous.
April 14, 2026
FCA Bans Motor Finance Ads Misusing Martin Lewis Clips

The Financial Conduct Authority said Tuesday that it has banned advertisements from a claims management company for using its logo without permission and unauthorized clips of the founder of MoneySavingExpert to make "misleading claims about average motor finance compensation."
April 14, 2026
Biotech Director Wins $3M Loan Row With Bahamian Bank

The director of an American biotech company is entitled to a "substantial sum of money" after winning his $15 million claim against a Bahamian bank, a London court held Tuesday, finding that the lender breached the terms of a $3 million loan agreement.
April 14, 2026
ECB Pushes EU Banking Rule Changes To Boost Competition

The European Central Bank urged lawmakers Tuesday to make concrete changes to European Union banking and capital markets rules to strengthen the bloc's financial competition with other global financial centers.
April 14, 2026
Fire Alarm Biz Boss Banned Over £327K Tax Dodging

The owner of two fire alarm companies has been banned from running businesses for six years after dodging more than £327,000 ($444,000) in income tax and value-added tax owed to the U.K.'s tax authority, the Insolvency Service said Tuesday.
April 14, 2026
NCA Can Keep £9M Seized From Cambodia Scam Suspect

The National Crime Agency was granted permission on Tuesday to hold on to millions of pounds in assets that it seized from a lieutenant to a billionaire businessman allegedly behind Cambodia's scam centers.
April 14, 2026
Mortgage Broker Acquires Homebuying Platform In £1.4M Deal

Mortgage Advice Bureau Holdings PLC said Tuesday that it has purchased HomeOwners Alliance, a homebuyers guidance platform, in a deal worth at least £1.4 million ($1.9 million) that it expects will boost the range of its services.
April 14, 2026
Insurers Face Mounting Backlog Of Pension Buyouts

Insurers are facing a growing backlog of pension plans seeking to wind up and close amid an expected surge in such transactions this year, a professional services company said Tuesday.
April 14, 2026
FCA Sets Out Open Finance Push To Widen Consumer Choice

The Financial Conduct Authority set out on Tuesday a program for developing open finance to give consumers and businesses greater control over their financial data in a move to help them secure better deals.
April 14, 2026
Deutsche Börse Buys $200M Stake In Kraken Crypto Platform

The operator of Germany's stock market said Tuesday that it has taken a minority stake in Kraken for $200 million as the planned U.S. initial public offering of the cryptocurrency exchange is on hold.
April 13, 2026
Investor Hits Litigation Funder With Winding-Up Order

London-based litigation funder Fenchurch Legal has been hit with a winding-up petition by an investment manager, months after the parties became embroiled in a dispute over a multimillion-pound loan.
April 13, 2026
House Of Fraser Left Bruised After TM Clash With Property Biz

House of Fraser has lost swaths of its brand protections in the U.K. following a "Frasers" trademark clash with a Singaporean property firm of the same name.
April 13, 2026
BoE Unveils Alternative Bail-In Method For Bank Failures

The Bank of England published guidance on Monday about how it will resolve bank failures with a new tool designed to assist bondholders, learning from the high-profile failures of Silicon Valley Bank UK and Credit Suisse.
April 13, 2026
Perella Weinberg To Buy London Advisory Boutique

Perella Weinberg Partners LP said Monday that it has agreed to acquire London-based advisory firm Gleacher Shacklock LLP as the U.S. bank seeks to widen its footprint in the U.K. and strengthen its cross-border dealmaking abilities.
April 13, 2026
Saba Capital Welcomes Rebuff Of Edinburgh Trust Exit Offer

Saba Capital Management LP, the largest shareholder in Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust, has welcomed the rejection by the trust's shareholders of a proposed tender offer, saying Monday that the offer was "deeply flawed."
April 13, 2026
Swedish Bank Scam Suspect Extradited From US

A man accused of running a plot to defraud victims out of €6 million ($7 million) by posing as a bank employee has been extradited to Sweden from the U.S., the European Union's crime fighting agency has said.
April 13, 2026
Longevity Insurance Deals Set To Rise, Broker Aon Says

The longevity insurance market is likely to experience an increase in demand this year as a result of pension reforms and changes in mortality rates, a broker said Monday.
April 13, 2026
Crispin Odey Drops £79M FT Sexual Misconduct Libel Case

Crispin Odey has dropped his £79 million ($106 million) libel claim against the Financial Times over a series of articles about allegations of sexual misconduct against the hedge-fund founder, the newspaper has said.
April 10, 2026
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

The past week in London has seen the owner of an oil tanker stuck in the Strait of Hormuz sued by an energy company and an insurer, law firm Boodle Hatfield LLP and two Serle Court barristers sued by a group of Winston Churchill's great-grandchildren, and Welsh Water hit with a fresh class action over polluted rivers.
April 10, 2026
FCA Warns Asset Managers On Conflicts, Consumer Duty

The Financial Conduct Authority has warned that some applicants for authorization as asset managers are failing to manage conflicts of interest or to demonstrate they adequately apply its Consumer Duty regime.
April 10, 2026
EU Watchdog Plans Deep Cutbacks In Bank Reporting Rules

The European Union's banking watchdog proposed Friday its widest-reaching package to simplify EU banks' data reporting to regulators in a decade.
April 10, 2026
NCA-Led Approval Phishing Sting Freezes $12M

The National Crime Agency has said that more than $12 million was frozen and more than 20,000 victims were identified in a cross-border exercise targeting a form of cryptocurrency and investment fraud.
April 10, 2026
Middle East Conflict Reverses Gains In Pension Plan Funding

Funding levels for defined benefit pension plans fell in March as heightened market volatility linked to conflict in the Middle East reversed gains made earlier in 2026, a financial services consultancy said Friday.

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

Responding To UK's New Late-Payment Enforcement Regime

The U.K. government’s recently announced crackdown on late payment marks a decisive shift from voluntary standards toward an enforcement-led framework designed to alter behavior by changing incentives, increasing accountability and introducing real consequences for persistent poor practices, say lawyers at Shoosmiths.
Unpacking HMRC's Decision To Delay Tax Adviser Regime

Lawyers at McDermott discuss why HM Revenue & Customs recently chose to delay the application of its tax adviser registration requirement to financial services firms, such as asset managers, as well as the onerous duties and responsibilities that the current legislation imposes.
What CMA Blog Reveals About Pricing Collusion Scrutiny

The Competition and Markets Authority's recent blog post announcing capabilities to screen for algorithmic collusion demonstrates that the regulator's concerns are crystallizing into enhanced investigative and enforcement actions, broadening the range of commercial arrangements at risk of antitrust scrutiny, say lawyers at Freshfields.
Carillion Fines Show FCA's Broad View Of Directors' Duties

The Financial Conduct Authority’s recent issuing of final notices to Carillion’s former group CEO demonstrates that executive directors cannot recklessly allow misleading public announcements that undermine market confidence, says Wendy Saunders at Lewis Silkin.
Assessing Potential Legal Claims From Private Credit Turmoil

Amid the downturn in the private credit markets spurred by multiple high-profile bankruptcies, a New York lawsuit stemming from the collapse of First Brands provides an important case study for investors to help minimize future losses and maximize any potential recovery in the event of a private credit default, say attorneys at Bleichmar Fonti.
What New FCA Rules Mean For Deferred Payment Providers

New rules from the Financial Conduct Authority requiring deferred payment credit providers to obtain a financial services license have two notable implications: providers will be subject to full compliance with the regulator’s consumer duty, and must meet its organizational and governance requirements, says Alix Prentice at Cadwalader.
FCA Stablecoin Sandbox Indicates Shift In Crypto Regulation

The Financial Conduct Authority’s recent decision to use four companies to test stablecoin models within its regulatory sandbox provides a mechanism for testing real-world use cases, and shines a light on the U.K.'s broader strategy in the context of global stablecoin legislation, says Ben Lee at Andersen.
Who Will Be 1st To Prosecute New Corporate Fraud Offense?

With no prosecutions under the failure to prevent fraud offense six months on from its introduction, lawyers at BCL Solicitors explore the front-runners in the race to prosecute, and consider whether a private prosecutor might beat a state prosecuting authority to the finish line.
Crypto-Asset Market Downturn Is Driving Litigation Risk

Recent volatility in the crypto-asset market has placed a strain on balance sheets and laid bare weaknesses that may have been overlooked during more stable periods, increasing the risk for disputes over whether procedures or enforcement have been carried out correctly, say lawyers at Kennedys.
Decoding Arbitral Disputes: UK Top Court On State Immunity

The U.K. Supreme Court's recent ruling denying Spain's and Zimbabwe's bids to escape arbitration awards using state immunity claims provides significant clarification of the relationship between sovereign immunity and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes system, and reinforces the finality and enforceability of ICSID awards, says Josep Galvez at 4-5 Gray's Inn.
FCA's £44M Nationwide Fine Highlights AML Control Gaps

The Financial Conduct Authority’s recent £44 million fine of Nationwide Building Society for anti-money laundering control failures demonstrates that where a firm does not implement appropriate policies and remediation projects, there is a risk that noncompliance will remain unaddressed, say lawyers at Taylor Wessing.
How UK Securitization Reforms Will Affect Industry

The Prudential Regulation Authority’s recent proposals to reform securitization requirements will offer greater structuring flexibility, reduced operational complexity and lower compliance costs, although with the rationale for imposing stand-alone obligations on institutional investors not clear, dissenting voices are likely, say lawyers at Skadden.
FCA's HTX Action Shows Crypto Ad Rules Must Be Followed

The Financial Conduct Authority’s London High Court action against global crypto-exchange HTX for illegally promoting its services to U.K. consumers sends the message that it will pursue those who flout the rules from a distance and will be key in testing the extent of the U.K.’s regulatory perimeter, says Nick Barnard at Corker Binning.
UK Territories May Yet Prevail On Ownership Disclosure

Despite its recently launched anti-corruption strategy, the U.K. government appears to have little appetite in the short term to impose fully public ownership registers on the overseas territories, a position that will be welcomed by advisers and individuals, says Rupert Cullen at Allectus Law.
Striking A Balance Between AI Innovation And Regulation

The Financial Conduct Authority's recent consultation on the impact of artificial intelligence on financial services highlights the debate between regulators, the government and industry over whether current regulatory frameworks can balance innovation with risk management, say lawyers at Womble Bond.