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Insurance UK

  • Featured

    Landmark Appeals Ruling Rescues Privilege In UK Probes

    By Richard Crump

    A U.K. appeals court's recent broad take on the protections legal privilege offers companies against demands from government prosecutors in a dispute over a Serious Fraud Office probe re-enshrines the confidentiality at the heart of the attorney-client relationship and offers comfort to multinationals facing cross-border investigations.

  • November 13, 2018

    Cybercrime Tops FCA's List Of Financial Fraud Worries

    Identity theft and phishing attacks are the scams that financial firms are most concerned about, according the first financial crime review published by the City's watchdog on Tuesday.

  • November 13, 2018

    Lender To Hand Over Account Docs In €4M Insurance Dispute

    U.K. lender Nationwide Building Society has been pulled into a dispute between XL Insurance Co. SE and an underwriting firm over €4 million ($4.5 million) in allegedly unpaid premiums, after a High Court judge told it to hand over client account information connected to the transfer of funds.

  • November 13, 2018

    German Insurer Launches London Office To Beat Brexit Risk

    German insurer Markel Insurance SE has launched a new branch in London to help it continue to serve British customers after the U.K. leaves the European Union in March 2019, a company spokesman told Law360 on Tuesday.

  • November 13, 2018

    Watchdog Points Way For EU Money Market Funds Disclosure

    Europe’s top securities regulator published guidelines on Tuesday to help managers of money market funds report quarterly information to their national supervisors, in a move that will allow the bloc to reduce risk in the sector under upcoming EU rules.

  • November 13, 2018

    Fraudster Avoids Jail Over Fake Health Insurance Claims

    An insurance scammer who used fake details to make fraudulent dental and optical claims for himself and a fictitious family has been handed a suspended jail sentence at a crown court, City of London Police said on Tuesday.

  • November 12, 2018

    Shipper Denies Blame For Ditched Cargo In Insurance Battle

    A Turkish shipping company has insisted that it could not have spotted problems with a vessel that was forced to ditch its load of chemicals in a Spanish port as it pursues the cargo's insurer for payments at a London court.

  • November 12, 2018

    Police Quiz Suspected Scammers After Insurers Raise Alarm

    City of London Police said on Monday that it targeted more than 30 individuals who allegedly inflated the value of stolen items or exaggerated their injuries from "slip and trip" claims in a week-long nationwide crackdown on “opportunistic” fraud.

  • November 12, 2018

    Ex-AIG Staff Could Win $100M After High Court Bonus Ruling

    A London court has ruled that 23 former executives at AIG are entitled to deferred bonuses pre-dating the financial crisis that could be worth more than $100 million despite the units' involvement in the risky trading that nearly brought down the insurance giant.

  • November 12, 2018

    UK Lawmakers Launch Probe Into 'Broken' Audit Market

    A fresh investigation is to be launched into the state of auditing in the U.K., the head of a parliamentary committee revealed on Monday, in the wake of a series of accounting scandals and corporate collapses that have “undermined public and investor confidence.”

  • November 12, 2018

    Financial Services Get Shared Lexicon To Fight Cyberattacks

    A forum of central bankers announced on Monday that it has published a common vocabulary of cyber terms to help the global financial services sector boost cross-border cooperation on security by cracking down on the growing threat of online crime.

  • November 12, 2018

    Watchdog Needs Help In 'David and Goliath' Fights, MPs Say

    The U.K.'s accounting regulator could need more funding if it is to avoid "David and Goliath" battles with “corporate giants” such as BHS Ltd., the retail chain that collapsed in 2016 with a £571 million ($733 million) pension deficit, two senior lawmakers have said.

  • November 9, 2018

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

    The last week has seen a pair of disputes involving asset manager CGrowth, another suit from private equity-linked firms taking on parties linked to Thailand's KPN Group and Kodak bring a competition case against Goldman, Glencore and others the film giant has accused of manipulating aluminum prices in the U.S. Here, Law360 looks at those and other new claims in the U.K.

  • November 9, 2018

    US, UK Continue Setting Table For Broader Trade Talks

    Trade officials from the U.S. and United Kingdom have been preparing for post-Brexit trade negotiations with lower-level talks on issues like e-commerce, industrial and agricultural goods, investment and financial services, according to a Trump administration readout of their recent meetings published Friday.

  • November 9, 2018

    Looming GDPR Fines To Spark Insurance Coverage Fights

    Cyber policies are increasingly incorporating coverage for the hefty fines and liabilities that are likely to arise from the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation, but legal and regulatory pronouncements in vital jurisdictions may stymie these efforts and open the door for unprecedented coverage battles, experts say. 

  • November 9, 2018

    Regulator Tells Markets To Prepare For No-Deal Brexit

    The European Securities and Markets Authority warned the clients of credit rating agencies and trade repositories on Friday that they need to step up their preparations for a no-deal Brexit and monitor the readiness of the firms they do business with.

  • November 9, 2018

    MPs Probe Whether Bank Closures Hit Vulnerable Customers

    Parliament's influential Treasury Committee launched an investigation on Friday into whether financial services companies are excluding and overcharging vulnerable customers, after thousands of local bank branches closed down across the U.K.

  • November 9, 2018

    EU Floats Fix To Unpopular Investment Disclosure Rules

    Europe’s top three financial regulators have set out proposed changes to the bloc’s controversial rules on disclosure for investment products as they attempt to correct problems with the regulation and avoid the need for funds to duplicate information that they will be required to show investors from 2020.

  • November 9, 2018

    UK Regulator Issues Final Rules On Insurers' Accountability

    The U.K.’s Prudential Regulation Authority published a final policy statement on Friday setting out how accountability rules drawn up to strengthen the market, which have applied to the banking industry since 2016, will be extended to insurers from December.

  • November 9, 2018

    5 Jailed After £1M Insurance Fraud Targeted Zurich, Allianz

    A criminal gang that defrauded Zurich, Ageas, Allianz and 11 other insurers out of nearly £1 million ($1.3 million) has been jailed for a total of 14 years following the largest investigation of its kind, City of London Police said on Friday.

  • November 8, 2018

    EU Orders Malta To Scrutinize Banks For Money Laundering

    Brussels instructed Malta’s money laundering watchdog on Thursday to sharpen its domestic banking supervision, three days after the European Central Bank withdrew a local lender’s license over its alleged links to dirty money.

Expert Analysis

  • UK And EU Crawl Toward Virtual Currency Regulation

    Jacqui Hatfield

    The lack of a harmonized approach to regulation of initial coin offerings in the EU is leading to a piecemeal approach across member states that will hamper blockchain developments, say Jacqui Hatfield and Rebecca Kellner of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.

  • Is Equifax Data Breach Penalty A Sign Of Fines To Come?

    James Castro-Edwards

    Recently, the U.K. Information Commissioner's Office fined Equifax £500,000 for falling victim to a cyberattack — the highest penalty available. Some speculate that this decision is a sign that the ICO is already assuming a tougher stance following the commencement of the General Data Protection Regulation, say James Castro-Edwards and Eaven Prenter of Wedlake Bell LLP.

  • Ensure That Dispute Resolution Mechanisms Are Brexit-Proof

    Claire Stockford

    With only five months remaining for the U.K. to make a deal with the EU and the possibility of a "no-deal" Brexit looking increasingly plausible, now is the time to take proactive steps to protect your clients’ positions and to make sure that their contracts are effective and enforceable, say Claire Stockford and Caitlin McLean of Shepherd & Wedderburn LLP.

  • 5 Cyber Insurance Pitfalls To Avoid In The UK

    Richard Mattick

    Faced with the opportunity to purchase cyber risk insurance to mitigate the damage caused by cyber events, prospective policyholder companies need all the help they can get in order to navigate this increasingly complex part of the U.K. insurance market, says Richard Mattick of Covington & Burling LLP.

  • UK Unexplained Wealth Orders: More Bark Than Bite So Far

    Fred Saugman

    This month, the U.K. National Crime Agency successfully resisted a challenge to its first unexplained wealth orders. This is a victory, but the agency has some way to go to show that UWOs will be a meaningful tool in the U.K.'s anti-money laundering arsenal, says Fred Saugman of WilmerHale.

  • GDPR Compliance Questions For Blockchain Firms

    Daniel Cooper

    The General Data Protection Regulation applies to blockchain networks that directly store personal information. However, blockchain technology can make compliance challenging, and also raises questions regarding who bears responsibility for compliance, say attorneys at Covington & Burling LLP.

  • Knowledge Management: An Unsung Hero Of Legal Innovation

    Rob MacAdam

    As technology evolves, law firms are increasingly looking for ways to improve communication, transparency and service for their clients. Firms should put knowledge management at the core of their value proposition to create a competitive advantage, says Rob MacAdam at HighQ.

  • Uncertainty Concerning The UK's Proper Purpose Rule?

    Nick Hoffman

    The U.K. Supreme Court's judgment in Eclairs v. JKX seemingly opened the door for a broad interpretation of the proper purpose rule, but despite the confusion, the rule will continue to operate as a useful legal safeguard for shareholders, say Nick Hoffman and Conal Keane of Harney Westwood & Riegels LLP.

  • How Europe's AML Regime Is Tackling Virtual Currencies

    Chris Warren-Smith

    The use and provision of virtual currency services have remained largely unregulated in the European Union, but its newest anti-money laundering directive could be the first step to tougher regulation, say Chris Warren-Smith and Paul Mesquitta of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP.

  • UK Ruling Signifies Greater Cross-Border Sharing Of Data

    Andrew Smith

    In KBR v. SFO, the U.K. High Court confirmed that the Serious Fraud Office can require foreign companies to produce documents held outside the U.K. as long as there is a sufficient connection between the company and the jurisdiction. This judgment will embolden other agencies with similar compulsory document production powers, says Andrew Smith of Corker Binning.