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Insurance UK
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April 24, 2024
Klarna Trims Down Basque Bank's European Logo TM
Buy-now, pay-later giant Klarna has won its fight to restrict trademark registration for a Spanish bank's logo, blocking protection in a myriad of categories ranging from laundry detergent to musical instruments.
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April 24, 2024
Regulator Says Half Of Retirement Plans Ready For Buyout
Half of the 5,000-plus defined benefit pension schemes in Britain are expected to have exceeded their estimated buyout funding levels, the Pensions Regulator said Wednesday, giving trustees and employers a chance to reassess their long-term objectives.
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April 24, 2024
Network Rail Rejected Pension Expert Due To Age Bias
An employment tribunal has ruled that Network Rail discriminated against an applicant to the pensions team because he was in his mid-50s, saying that the manager processing submissions barely glanced at his curriculum vitae.
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April 24, 2024
Osborne Clarke Guides Canada Life's £46M Lexmark Deal
Insurer Canada Life has agreed to a £46 million ($57 million) buy-in with the pension scheme of printing business Lexmark Holdings Inc. in a transaction guided by Osborne Clarke LLP.
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April 24, 2024
PRA Asks Banks To Review Private Equity Exposure
The Prudential Regulation Authority asked banks to review and assess their current practices to ensure they align with the regulator's expectations for effective risk management concerning private equity-linked credit and counterparty exposures.
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April 24, 2024
AXA, Zurich Deny Liability In £26M Bakery Fire Claim
A group of six insurers has denied that it unlawfully refused to pay out at least £26 million ($32 million) to cover damage and losses caused by a blaze at a bakery, saying the food business did not comply sufficiently with fire procedures to justify a payout.
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April 23, 2024
Tax Experts Want Cut To Healthcare Insurance Levy
Tax experts on Tuesday urged the U.K. government to partially suspend a levy on healthcare insurance products, after it revealed record premium tax revenue of £8.1 billion ($10.1 billion) last year.
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April 23, 2024
UK Rules Sri Lanka Ship Insurance Row Must Be In London
A U.K. judge ruled Tuesday that a Sri Lankan shipping company cannot sue a London-based insurer in its home country over liability for a sunken container ship because the insurance contract is governed by English law.
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April 23, 2024
COVID-19 Has Disrupted Pension Life Expectancy Models
Pension schemes have faced significant disruption to the way they calculate life-expectancy of their members as a result of the pandemic, a consultancy warned Tuesday.
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April 23, 2024
FCA Clarifies Greenwashing Rule, Extends ESG regime
The Financial Conduct Authority has published clarifying final guidance on its anti-greenwashing rule for all regulated firms, saying on Tuesday that it will also extend its broader sustainability regime to include portfolio managers.
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April 23, 2024
15 Pension Mega-Deals Forecast In Coming Months
The U.K. pension deals market is set for another record year, with around 15 mega transactions worth up to £30 billion ($37 billion) expected to go ahead in the next few months, a retirement savings consultancy said Tuesday.
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April 22, 2024
Trader Behind £1.4B Tax Fraud Thought Trades Were Valid
A British trader accused of being the mastermind of a fraudulent trading scheme that cost Denmark's tax authority £1.4 billion ($1.7 billion) genuinely believed that the trades worked, his lawyer told a London court on Monday.
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April 22, 2024
Complaints Of Closed Bank Accounts To Ombudsman Surge
Customer complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service about closure of or refusal to open bank accounts have risen sharply in the last year, particularly from businesses, according to figures recently released by a select group of members of Parliament.
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April 22, 2024
Aviva Paid Over £413M In Group Protection Claims In 2023
Aviva paid out more than £413.7 million ($509.6 million) in group protection claims to employees and their dependents in 2023, up from £373.9 million in 2022, according to a company report published Monday.
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April 22, 2024
FCA To Consider Big Tech Data-Sharing With Finance Firms
The Financial Conduct Authority said on Monday it will examine how Big Tech's access to data could be valuable to firms in the finance sector if it reveals consumers' preferences, and will consider setting out incentives to encourage information-sharing.
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April 22, 2024
FCA Defends Response To British Steel Pension Scandal
The Financial Conduct Authority on Monday said it took "appropriate regulatory action" amid complaints over its handling of the British Steel Pension Scheme transfer scandal and would not uphold any of the grievances it has received over its approach.
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April 22, 2024
Pension Lifeboat Says Gov't Plans Could Create £10B Finance
The pensions compensation fund said that plans to give it a new role as a consolidator of smaller retirement schemes could result in an additional £10 billion being plowed into U.K. growth assets.
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April 22, 2024
FCA Urged To Halt Plan To Publicize Enforcement Probes
The Financial Conduct Authority's plan to name the firms it probes and publish information about investigations at an earlier stage risks an unjustified departure from the "fundamental principle" of being innocent until proven guilty, a House of Lords committee warned in a letter published Monday.
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April 19, 2024
Insurers Push To Arbitrate Hurricane Damage Case
An arbitrator should decide whether a Louisiana property owner's hurricane damage claims must be arbitrated, a group of surplus lines insurers argued in urging the Second Circuit to reject a New York district court's reliance on the circuit's precedent to find the arbitration clause at issue unenforceable.
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April 19, 2024
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London
This past week in London has seen U.K. holiday resort chain Butlins target Aviva and a huddle of insurers, Meta and WhatsApp tackle a patents claim by telecommunications company Semitel, an ongoing construction dispute between Essex County Council and Balfour Beatty, and Formycon AG hit a pharmaceutical company for infringing medical products. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.
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April 19, 2024
Car Insurance Still 'Historically High' Despite Price Dip
British motorists are still paying "historically high prices" for car insurance despite the cost of cover falling by 5% on average during the first quarter of 2024, broker WTW has said.
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April 19, 2024
Gov't Urged To Drop Plans For Small UK Pension Pots
The government must abandon its controversial plans to tackle the proliferation of small pension pots and instead revisit a solution that was passed into law a decade ago, a consultancy said Friday.
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April 19, 2024
EU Firms Say Strict ESG Rules Risk Chasing Off Clients
Large banks have warned the European Union's banking regulator that its proposed guidelines for managing sustainability risks are too demanding and could drive clients away to banks outside the bloc.
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April 18, 2024
Insurers Face Appeal Over Refusal To Cover Bribery Loss
A holding company took its fight for an insurance payout to the Court of Appeal on Thursday, urging justices to force its insurers to cover its claim for losses it sustained when its acquisition of a construction contractor went south due to bribery and corruption allegations.
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April 18, 2024
City Pushes For UK Regulators To Be Globally Competitive
A body representing U.K. financial services called Thursday for a new post-Brexit international framework to compare regulators' performance and their impact on competitiveness.
Expert Analysis
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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.
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UK Focus On Int'l Data Transfers Shows Appetite For Reform
Recent U.K. public consultations on international transfers of personal data and structural amendments to the country's General Data Protection Regulation illustrate the post-Brexit appetite for reform and signal changes to the international data transfers regime, say Kate Brimsted and Tom Evans at BCLP.
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Policyholder Outlook Following UK Biz Interruption Test Case
In the nine months since the U.K. Supreme Court ruled in favor of policyholders in the Financial Conduct Authority’s test case on insurance coverage for COVID-19 businesses interruption claims, similar lawsuits filed against insurers show that a positive outcome for insureds is not guaranteed, say Peter Sharp and Paul Mesquitta at Morgan Lewis.
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What The Future Holds For UK Auditing Reform
The U.K.'s Financial Reporting Council has shown itself to be an increasingly effective and proactive regulator in its final months, and the greater powers of its incoming replacement — the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority — will likely continue an era of heightened scrutiny for auditors, say Paul Brehony and Kate Gee at Signature Litigation.
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How UK Data Breach Ruling May Rein In Insurance Claims
The recent U.K. High Court ruling in Warren v. DSG Retail, which held that claimants can only pursue personal data claims provided for in data protection legislation, narrows the basis upon which claims can be made following a data breach, and could make lower-cost recovery of after-the-event insurance premiums a thing of the past, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.
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2nd Circ. Arbitral Award Ruling Signals Restrictive Approach
The Second Circuit's recent ruling in Gater Assets v. Moldovagaz, reversing a default judgment arbitration award on jurisdictional grounds, fortifies U.S. court protections for foreign states and state-owned entities, and forecasts the court's conservative approach to when nonparties can be bound by arbitration agreements, say attorneys at Cleary.
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Lloyds EU Operations Highlight Challenges For UK Insurers
Potential problems facing Lloyd's Europe could be shared by other U.K. insurers operating in the European Union's more stringent post-Brexit regulatory landscape, but individual countries' discrete provisions allowing for certain cross-border activities could enable a more nuanced approach, says Jeremy Irving at Browne Jacobson.
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The Risky Reality Of GDPR Noncompliance
With the General Data Protection Regulation remaining in force in the post-Brexit European Union, businesses should be aware not only of the increasing fines levied for noncompliance, but also of the expenses incurred for lost management time, the professional costs and the reputational damage, says Alexander Egerton at Seddons Law.
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An Underused Group Litigation Tool Could Help UK Claimants
Though the Financial Markets Test Case Procedure has only been used as a collective redress mechanism for the first time recently in Financial Conduct Authority v. Arch Insurance, hopefully it will be called on more often to resolve future post-Brexit issues and other pandemic cases, says Becca Hogan at Signature Litigation.