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Financial Services UK

  • July 25, 2025

    'Disconnect' Between Pension And Savings, Broadstone Says

    Britons aged between 40 and 75 who are yet to fully retire face a gap of more than £18,000 ($24,000) per year between their state pension and the income they hope to live on, actuarial consultant Broadstone said Friday.

  • July 25, 2025

    Pensions Watchdog Wants Dashboards Data Improvements

    Too many pension schemes do not have enough high quality, recent or digital data as the retirement savings industry edges towards the launch of the long-awaited dashboards programme, the top regulator has said.

  • July 25, 2025

    Bahraini Bank Worker Loses Whistleblowing Case Over Delay

    A short-lived employee of a Bahraini bank has lost his bid to sue his former employer, as a London tribunal ruled he waited too long to bring his claim he was fired for whistleblowing.

  • July 25, 2025

    Odey's Libel Claim And Sex Assault Case To Have Joint Trial

    Hedge fund manager Crispin Odey's £79 million ($106.2 million) libel claim against the Financial Times will be tried jointly with claims by five women accusing him of sexual abuse, a London judge ruled Friday.

  • July 25, 2025

    Gov't Warned That Pension Bill Excludes Investment Cos.

    A trade body for investment companies said Friday it had urged the government to amend the Pension Schemes Bill so that its power to require pensions to invest in private assets will allow this through investment companies.

  • July 25, 2025

    Ruling Puts Dexia's €400M Row With Torino In English Courts

    A judge ruled Friday that England has exclusive jurisdiction to hear a €400 million ($469 million) dispute over the validity of transactions Dexia SA inked with Comune di Torino in Italy to restructure the municipal government's debts.

  • July 25, 2025

    AXA Wins £675M Missold PPI Payout Fight With Santander

    AXA has won a £675 million ($907 million) battle with Santander to recover payouts for wrongly sold payment protection insurance as a London court ruled that the Spanish banking giant was liable for "systemic failings" in historical sales of the policy.

  • July 25, 2025

    Slaughter And May-Led Close Brothers To Sell Unit For £104M

    British merchant banking group Close Brothers said Friday that it has agreed to sell its subsidiary Winterflood Securities to Marex Group PLC for approximately £103.9 million ($139.7 million) to simplify its portfolio and focus on its core lending business.

  • July 25, 2025

    MoD Official Named As New Companies House CEO

    Senior Ministry of Defence official Andy King has been appointed as chief executive of Britain's official business registrar as it seeks to toughen its stance on financial crime.

  • July 25, 2025

    UK Prospectus Changes Merely Shifting Diligence Burden

    Listed companies will no longer be forced in 2026 to publish demanding documents during most secondary fundraising drives under updated prospectus rules, but lawyers warn this might simply mean that businesses spend more time and money on diligence when they make other disclosures.

  • July 25, 2025

    NatWest To Reward Investors With £750M Share Buyback

    NatWest Group said Friday that it plans to start buying back up to £750 million ($1 billion) of shares as it reported a strong performance for the first half of this year.

  • July 24, 2025

    Ukrainian State-Owned Bank Targets Russia In New Claim

    State-owned Oschadbank said Thursday it has taken the first steps to initiate arbitration against Russia over the loss of its assets in the southern and eastern regions of Ukraine, citing the Kremlin's "gross violations" of international law.

  • July 24, 2025

    Traders' Win Casts Doubt On Plans For No-Jury Fraud Trials

    Repeated failure by the courts to ensure that two former traders imprisoned for rigging benchmark interest rates were given a fair trial has fueled criticism of radical reforms to roll back jury trials in complex fraud cases to ease pressure on the judicial system.

  • July 24, 2025

    Four Traders Plan Appeals After Justices Quash Convictions

    Four City traders convicted of manipulating benchmark interest rates plan to file new challenges against their verdicts after the U.K. Supreme Court ruled that two former bankers in similar cases failed to receive a fair trial.

  • July 24, 2025

    Fintech Execs Deny Misleading Bank In £4M Fraud Claim

    Defunct fintech startup BrickVest Ltd. and its co-founders have denied allegations brought by a German specialist property lender in a £4.2 million ($5.7 million) London claim that they hid additional investment in the business before its collapse.

  • July 24, 2025

    CMS Fights £10M Negligence Claim Over Investec Deal

    CMS has denied allegations of negligence from a former client, saying the property developer gave the green light to repayment terms with Investec that the law firm negotiated and is now falsely claiming to have been caught off-guard by the deal.

  • July 24, 2025

    Munich Re Can't Nix Private Equity Firm's $491M IPO Claim

    Munich Re Group failed Thursday to get a private equity firm's claim of approximately $491 million struck out, after a court found that it couldn't rule out the possibility that the German reinsurer had breached an agreement over the public listing of a U.S. company.

  • July 24, 2025

    Audit Watchdog Imposed £14.5M In Fines Last Year

    Britain's audit watchdog said Thursday it levied £14.5 million ($19.6 million) in fines across a 12-month period ending in March that also saw it wrap the majority of its investigations in a more timely way than ever before.

  • July 24, 2025

    NCA Seizes £17M Tied To Suspected Illegal China Trades

    The National Crime Agency revealed Thursday that a Chinese national has agreed to forfeit money and seven London properties worth £16.7 million ($22.6 million) which the agency suspects are the proceeds of criminal securities trading in China.

  • July 24, 2025

    Investment Biz Denies Financier's $3.5M Unpaid Loan Claim

    An investment company and its director have denied they breached a contract for a $2 million loan issued by a financier for an investment in a drinks business, telling a London court that the money is not yet repayable.

  • July 24, 2025

    BoE Speeds Up Insurance Vehicle Approvals To Boost Growth

    The Bank of England put into force Thursday rules speeding up authorizations for a type of insurer known as special purpose vehicles, slashing related compulsory senior manager applications with immediate effect to boost U.K. growth.

  • July 24, 2025

    SFO Charges 6 With Fraud Over £75M Pension Investments

    The Serious Fraud Office charged six individuals with fraud and money laundering on Thursday over alleged misrepresentations made to investors who poured £75 million ($101 million) from their pensions into self-storage units.

  • July 24, 2025

    Lloyd's Grants Provisional Approval For South African Insurer

    Specialist insurance market Lloyd's of London has granted "in principle" the go-ahead for Santam to launch a syndicate in London, a move the South African company said will fast-track its international growth.

  • July 24, 2025

    Chesnara Raises £140M To Fund HSBC Life Buy

    British pensions company Chesnara PLC said Thursday that it has raised approximately £140 million ($190 million) to partly fund the £260 million acquisition of the specialist life protection and investment bond provider of banking giant HSBC.

  • July 24, 2025

    Brown & Brown To Buy UK Racehorse Insurance Broker

    The European subsidiary of insurance broker Brown & Brown Inc. has agreed to acquire Weatherbys Hamilton LLP, a specialist U.K. broker that offers cover for farms, estates and racehorses.

Expert Analysis

  • Saxon Woods Ruling Tightens Rules On Director Good Faith

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    The recent Court of Appeal judgment in Saxon Woods v. Costa departs from the High Court's ruling, clarifying that a director's sincere belief they have acted in the company’s best interests is not sufficient to satisfy the statutory requirement to act in good faith, say lawyers at Covington.

  • Key Points From HMRC's Tax Reform Proposals

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    Although HM Revenue & Customs’ recent proposals for reform of U.K. transfer pricing and permanent establishment rules align with the latest international consensus, certain amendments may lead to future controversy, say lawyers at Skadden.

  • What To Note As UK Adopts OECD Crypto Disclosure Rules

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    With the U.K.’s recent announcement that it will adopt the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's crypto-asset reporting framework, users and providers will benefit from understanding the context surrounding the decision and the framework's intended goal of clamping down on tax evasion, say lawyers at Brown Rudnick.

  • Comparing Stablecoin Bills From UK, EU, US And Hong Kong

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    For multinational stablecoin issuers, navigating the differences and similarities among regimes in the U.K., EU, Hong Kong and U.S., which are currently unfolding in several key ways, is critical to achieving scalable, compliant operations, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • How UK Law Firms Can Counter Money Laundering Threat

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    With figures released in May showing that money laundering was the biggest source of fraud in the U.K. last year, law firms should focus on internal identification and prevention strategies, considering the scale and nature of potential risk exposure depends on several business factors, says Niall Hearty at Rahman Ravelli.

  • Key Takeaways As EU And UK Impose New Russia Sanctions

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    The European Union and U.K.’s new sanctions on Russia, designating increasing numbers of non-Russian companies in the defense and shipping sectors, mean that organizations must examine from the outset whether a transaction has any nexus with the EU or the U.K., say lawyers at Sullivan & Cromwell.

  • Pension Schemes Bill's Most Notable, Controversial Measures

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    The long-awaited Pension Schemes Bill recently introduced to Parliament creates a framework for harnessing money saved in U.K. workplace pension funds to grow the country’s economy, but provisions relating to local government pension scheme investment, and scale and asset allocation, are controversial, says Claire Dimmock at Squire Patton.

  • What New FCA Private Stock Market System Could Offer Cos.

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    While the Financial Conduct Authority’s new secondary private stock market system will bring more control and less ongoing regulatory compliance than a public market, but because the regime grants a significant degree of flexibility to operators it may be some time before a full operational picture emerges, says Iain Wright at Morgan Lewis.

  • Fraud Office Guidance Highlights Value Of Self-Reporting

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    New guidance from the U.K.'s Serious Fraud Office on corporate self-reporting, cooperation and deferred prosecution agreements provides a useful framework for companies navigating criminal investigations and their potential resolutions — and underscores that corporations that self-report are in a better position to obtain DPAs than those that do not, say lawyers at Skadden.

  • Open Questions As FCA Prepares Buy Now, Pay Later Rules

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    HM Treasury’s recent response to its consultation on buy now, pay later lending regulation is clear on policy, but with rules still to be set by the Financial Conduct Authority it is difficult for firms to plan for change, and they should take advantage now of the opportunity to liaise with the regulator, say lawyers at Hogan Lovells.

  • What End of Payment Systems Regulator Means For Biz

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    The U.K. government’s plan to abolish the Payment Systems Regulator and absorb its functions into the Financial Conduct Authority should eventually lighten the compliance burden for businesses under the PSR’s remit, which may in turn encourage growth, but the proposed changes will roll out slowly, say lawyers at Farrer & Co.

  • Compliance Lessons From Art Dealer's Terror Financing Plea

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    Regulated businesses can learn from the missteps of a recently convicted London art dealer, who failed to disclose sales to a suspected Hezbollah financier, by implementing compliance measures like anti-terrorism financing screenings as robust as their anti-money laundering policies and training staff to spot red flags, say lawyers at White & Case.

  • UK Securities Tax Reform Will Be Welcomed By Investors

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    The proposed reforms resulting from HM Revenue & Customs' recent consultation on modernizing stamp taxes on shares, suggesting a single digital tax on securities to replace stamp duty and stamp duty reserve tax, are expected to reduce complexity for investors transacting in U.K. securities, say lawyers at Ropes & Gray.

  • UK Capital Reforms May Help Startup Founders, VC Investors

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    Hidden in the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority's recent proposals on the definition of capital for investment firms are changes to the eligibility requirements for instruments to be included in a firm's regulatory capital — changes that may reduce the risk of investing, especially in early-stage fintech firms, says Andrew Henderson at Goodwin.

  • EU Watchdog's ESG Dashboard Raises Transparency Bar

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    The European Banking Authority’s recently introduced ESG dashboard is a key tool in aligning financial institutions with the European Union's sustainability policies, and fundamentally alters the risk environment by transitioning climate-related data from a compliance afterthought to a core component of strategic decision-making, says Kristýna Tupá at Schönherr.

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