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Insurance UK
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March 13, 2024
Pensions Watchdog Workers Call Off Strike, Agree To Pay Deal
Some 400 workers at The Pensions Regulator suspended their strike action after agreeing to a pay increase aligned with guidelines set for government employees, the watchdog said Wednesday.
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March 13, 2024
Norton Pension Scam Victims Receive Initial £9.4M Redress
Former employees of Norton Motorcycles received £9.4 million ($12 million) into their pension schemes from the Fraud Compensation Fund this week, an independent trustee told a group of senior MPs on Wednesday.
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March 13, 2024
Gordons, Pinsent Masons Steer Academy Buy Of Allianz Unit
Academy Insurance Services has agreed to acquire the Premierline commercial insurance arm of insurance giant Allianz in the U.K. for an undisclosed amount in a deal guided by Pinsent Masons LLP and Gordons LLP.
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March 13, 2024
'Significant' Gaps Remain In UK Pension Provision, FCA Says
Automatic enrollment should be recognized as a success, but gaps around the retirement saving provision remain, the Financial Conduct Authority's chief executive said Wednesday, raising questions about Britain's current and future pension landscape.
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March 13, 2024
Bond Market Seeks Mix Of FCA Proposals On Trade Reporting
U.K. and European trade bodies jointly laid out their preferences on Wednesday for a U.K. regulatory framework for publishing bond trading data based on elements of two potential models proposed by the Financial Conduct Authority.
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March 13, 2024
Insurer Direct Line Snubs £3.2B Improved Ageas Bid
British insurer Direct Line on Wednesday said it had rejected an improved £3.2 billion ($4.1 billion) offer from Belgian rival Ageas because it still "significantly undervalues" the group.
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March 12, 2024
Civil Servants Appeal For 2nd Shot At Age Bias Challenge
Twenty civil servants argued Tuesday that they were not given a fair shot at their claim that a redundancy compensation scheme was unjustifiably biased against older staff.
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March 12, 2024
Staffer Who Sent Sex Doll To Boss Unfairly Axed By Tech Biz
A tech company unfairly fired an employee who sent their manager a sex doll, an employment tribunal ruled, although it also rejected the staffer's bid for £16 million ($20.6 million) in damages and their request to be reinstated.
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March 12, 2024
£100B Of UK Pension Surplus Could Be Returned To Sponsors
An estimated £100 billion ($128 billion) could boost British businesses and workers over the next decade if retirement savings plans continue to run on after the point at which they're fully funded, a consultancy said Tuesday.
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March 12, 2024
UK Pension Deals Hit Record-Breaking £50B In 2023
The total value of pension transfer deals in the U.K. hit a record-breaking £50 billion ($64 billion) in 2023, Hymans Robertson said Tuesday, with the number of transactions also eclipsing previous highs.
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March 12, 2024
Gov't To Give Banks More Time To Investigate Payment Fraud
HM Treasury on Tuesday published draft legislation giving banks more time to investigate suspected fraud on payments, giving them a better chance of stopping thieves.
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March 12, 2024
AI Attacks Pose Critical Threat To Businesses, Lloyd's Says
Artificial intelligence will empower cybercriminals and potentially increase the frequency and sophistication of digital attacks, Lloyd's of London warned in a report published Tuesday.
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March 12, 2024
FCA's New Greenwashing Rules Lack Clarity, City Firms Warn
City firms are pressing the Financial Conduct Authority to revise the draft guidance for its new anti-greenwashing rules to clear up critical ambiguities as they seek greater clarity on how broadly it will be applied.
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March 11, 2024
Insurers Sued For €403M Over Nord Stream Pipeline Damage
The operator of two Baltic Sea gas pipelines hit by explosions has sued its insurers for more than €403 million ($440 million) to cover damage intended to "sabotage a politically significant pipeline" supplying natural gas from Russia to Western Europe.
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March 11, 2024
New Treasury Review Of AML Rules To Cast Wide Net
The U.K. Treasury said Monday that a new review on the effectiveness of anti-money laundering regulations will have a broad scope, encompassing more than 100,000 businesses, including law firms.
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March 11, 2024
MPs To Hear From Administrators In Norton Pension Scandal
A parliamentary committee said Monday that it will weigh whether victims of pension fraud can receive compensation faster as the first part of its probe into the retirement savings scandal at Norton Motorcycle Co.
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March 11, 2024
Global Standards-Setter Sets Deposit Insurance Review
The International Association of Deposit Insurers said Monday that it will focus its 2024 efforts on updating the rules for deposit insurance, including studying how it works, collecting more data on it and helping members improve their systems.
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March 11, 2024
FCA Fines British Steel Pensions Firm, Bans Advisers
The finance watchdog said Monday that it has hit a financial advice company with a fine and banned two former employees after discovering failures by the business when it put through £90 million ($115 million) of retirement savings transfers for members of the British Steel Pension Scheme.
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March 08, 2024
FCA To Boost Fight Against Nonfinancial Misconduct
The Financial Conduct Authority said Friday it would ramp up its fight against bullying and sexual harassment in the financial services sector in light of a damning parliamentary report condemning efforts to tackle sexism in the financial services sector.
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March 08, 2024
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London
This past week in London has seen Barclays initiate legal proceedings against top Russian private bank JSC Alfa-Bank; Lex Greensill, founder of the collapsed Greensill Capital, suing the U.K.'s Department for Business and Trade; Wikipedia's parent company hit with a libel claim; and a sports journalism teacher filing a data protection claim against Manchester United FC. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.
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March 08, 2024
Slaughter And May Guides PE Firm's £432M Wealth Firm Buy
Pollen Street Capital said Friday that its subsidiary has agreed to fully buy out Mattioli Woods, a wealth management company, for approximately £432 million ($556 million), as the U.K. private equity investor looks to capture a slice of the lucrative sector.
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March 08, 2024
Gov't Sets Out 'Social Factors' Guide For Pension Investment
The pensions watchdog has urged retirement fund managers to weigh social factors, such as labor rights and the safety of workers, as part of their investment considerations.
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March 08, 2024
'Aggressive' Cold-Calling Firm Shut For Targeting Pensioners
A company that used "aggressive techniques" when selling unnecessary home service and maintenance plans to vulnerable pensioners has been wound up for targeting and misleading elderly customers.
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March 08, 2024
Insurer Beazley Begins $325M Share Buyback As Profit Soars
Beazley began a share buyback on Friday worth up to $325 million in a move to lower its outstanding share capital and reward investors, as its pre-tax profits more than doubled to $1.25 billion.
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March 07, 2024
Efforts To Tackle Sexism In City Moving At 'Snail's Pace'
A group of senior MPs called on Friday for an end to the "era of impunity" in the country's financial sector, saying that efforts to tackle sexism in the City are moving at a "snail's pace" and ignoring the benefits of diversity.
Expert Analysis
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New Anti-Modern Slavery Bill Unlikely To Accomplish Goals
A new bill has been introduced to increase the accountability of organizations to tackle modern slavery, but without requiring the establishment of a corporate strategy and imposing sanctions for noncompliance, the U.K.'s response to modern slavery in general is unlikely to meaningfully improve, says Alice Lepeuple at WilmerHale.
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Opinion
FCA Proposal Fails British Steel Pension Scandal Victims
The Financial Conduct Authority’s proposed redress scheme for victims of the British Steel pension misselling scandal fails to ensure those affected are compensated in full, and with many advisory firms being forced into insolvency, looks set to create further problems rather than resolve them, say Ben Rees and Alessio Ianiello at Keller Lenkner.
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How New Framework Could Ease EU-US Data Transfer Burden
The recently proposed Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework would facilitate the transfer of personal data between the EU and participating U.S. companies and leave the U.K. to play catch-up, but there remain risks of the same legal challenges that invalidated previous data transfer arrangements, says Fred Saugman at WilmerHale.
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What EU Corporate Sustainability Plan Means For Contracts
The EU's proposed directive on corporate sustainability due diligence would have a significant impact on contractual assurances in relation to human rights and environmental impacts, says Francois Holmey at Carter-Ruck.
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How The Rise In Ransomware Is Affecting Business Insurance
Following an unprecedented rise in global ransomware attacks, with insurance companies scaling back coverage and increasing premiums, policyholders should consider these trends and take certain steps to mitigate risks, say Marialuisa Gallozzi and Josianne El Antoury at Covington.
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How A New Law Tightens The Screw On Dirty Money In The UK
By backing up and enhancing the unexplained wealth order regime in a significant rewriting of the rules, the long-awaited Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act should do much to improve due diligence procedures and raise the standards for foreign wealth making its way to the U.K., says Syed Rahman of Rahman Ravelli.
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A Landmark UK Enforcement Case For Crypto-Assets
HM Revenue and Customs' recent seizure of nonfungible tokens from three people under investigation for value-added tax fraud promises to be the first of many such actions against crypto-assets, so investors should preemptively resolve potential tax matters with U.K. law enforcement agencies to avoid a rude awakening, says Andrew Park at Andersen.
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Emerging Economic Effects From Russia-Ukraine War
While the full economic effects of Russia's invasion of Ukraine will only become clear with time, some of the geopolitical and financial consequences are already becoming apparent, such as a possible shift from the petrodollar, Russian debt default and investor asset recovery complications, say attorneys at King & Spalding.
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Unexplained Wealth Orders' Role In UK Dirty Money Bill
A bill passed by Parliament on Monday that targets Russian oligarchs who have substantial U.K. assets may embolden agencies who use unexplained wealth orders to take action against others who were not previously viewed as suitable candidates for UWOs, says Aziz Rahman at Rahman Ravelli.
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How EU Proposal Would Affect Corporate Sustainability Duties
The European Commission recently released its proposal for a directive on corporate sustainability, human rights and environmental due diligence, that, if adopted, will have a substantial impact on the external corporate regulation and the internal corporate governance of the largest companies operating in the EU, says François Holmey at Carter-Ruck.
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How Will UK Use New Penalties For Debt-Dodging Directors?
Thomas Shortland at Cohen & Gresser discusses the scope of the new disqualification regime for company directors who dissolve their businesses to avoid paying back state COVID-19 loans, and identifies factors that may affect how frequently the government exercises the new powers.
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Automated AML Compliance Tools Are No Silver Bullet
As financial institutions increasingly use automated tools for anti-money laundering compliance, attorneys at Covington discuss the risks of overreliance on such tools, regulatory expectations, potential liability and insurance coverage implications, as well as lessons from recent enforcement actions.
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Issues To Watch In Potential English Arbitration Act Reform
Summary dismissal, confidentiality, technological updates and certain other topics that could fall under the England and Wales Law Commission's upcoming review of the 25-year-old Arbitration Act should be of particular interest to those considering an English-seated arbitration, say Neil Newing and Alasdair Marshall at Signature Litigation.
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UK's Vicarious Liability Juggernaut Shows Signs Of Slowing
In the last five years, U.K. court decisions have generally broadened the scope of vicarious liability, holding organizations responsible for individuals' crimes, but more recent decisions suggest that courts are finally taking steps to limit such liability, say Stephanie Wilson and Philip Tracey at Plexus Legal.
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What 9th Circ. Arbitration Case May Mean For Insurance
If the plaintiffs in CLMS Management Services v. Amwins Brokerage of Georgia appeal the Ninth Circuit's recent decision that state law does not bar the enforcement of arbitration clauses in insurance contracts, the case may have a significant effect on the different dispute resolution options for insurers and policyholders, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.