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Financial Services UK

  • July 29, 2025

    EU Watchdog Finds Failings In AML Defenses At Crypto-Firms

    The banking watchdog of the European Union has warned that many crypto-asset companies lack effective anti-money laundering systems, reporting that abuse of services in the sector for financial crime is a major concern.

  • July 29, 2025

    FCA Sues Property Biz Over £23M Investment Scheme

    The City watchdog said Tuesday that it has taken Concept Capital Group to a London court over an alleged unauthorized £23 million ($30 million) investment scheme related to static homes.

  • July 29, 2025

    Barclays Plans £1B Share Buyback To Reward Investors

    Barclays PLC confirmed on Tuesday plans to reward investors with a share buyback worth up to £1 billion ($1.3 billion), in line with its multibillion-pound capital returns program.

  • July 29, 2025

    Shvidler Loses Landmark UK Sanctions Challenge

    Britain's highest court upheld sanctions against billionaire oil tycoon Eugene Shvidler in a landmark ruling on Tuesday that backs the U.K. government's authority to impose the restrictions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

  • July 28, 2025

    Fraud Claims 'Smaller Slice' As Crypto Litigation Booms

    As litigation involving cryptocurrency significantly increases, fraud cases represent a lesser share of the total number of crypto disputes, according to a report published Monday by CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP.

  • August 04, 2025

    Travers Smith To Lose Leveraged Finance Head To Goodwin

    Goodwin Procter LLP said Monday that it has hired Travers Smith's head of leveraged finance to strengthen its growing private equity practice in London.

  • July 28, 2025

    Investment Firm Beats Ex-Risk Chief's Long COVID Bias Claim

    An asset management firm did not discriminate against its former risk chief based on his long COVID when it required him to interview for a new post after eliminating his old job, a tribunal has ruled.

  • July 28, 2025

    FCA Flags AI Risks In Benchmark Administrators' Controls

    The City watchdog warned Monday that administrators of companies that set benchmarks lack consistency in how they manage data, saying there was inadequate evidence that their controls are evolving to cover risks from new technology such as AI.

  • July 28, 2025

    Citigroup Defends $16M VTB Russian Securities Sale Losses

    Citigroup has denied claims that it caused a VTB Bank subsidiary to lose almost $16 million by taking an irrational approach to liquidating securities after the Russian lender defaulted on a demand for collateral amid market volatility following Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

  • July 28, 2025

    UK Man Denies Making Crypto Transfers To Russian Militias

    A British-Russian national who allegedly funded pro-Russian militia groups in occupied eastern Ukraine through bitcoin payments on Monday denied breaching the U.K. sanctions regime.

  • July 28, 2025

    Investment Boss Told To Pay Back £170K From £37M Fraud

    A director of an ethical investment scheme imprisoned for defrauding investors out of £37 million ($50 million) was ordered by a court on Monday to pay back £170,000 or have two years added to his sentence.

  • July 28, 2025

    Dentons-Led Bermuda Investment Biz Signs £900M Merger

    Bermudian Investor Hansa said Monday that local rival Ocean Wilsons Holdings Ltd. has agreed to accept its all-stock merger offer that will create a company with total net assets of more than £900 million ($1.2 billion).

  • July 28, 2025

    Veteran Banker Named Interim Chair Of Financial Ombudsman

    The City watchdog said Monday that it has appointed Liam Coleman as interim chair of the Financial Ombudsman Service, following a long career in banking and the public sector.

  • July 28, 2025

    Britons Fear Impact Of Inheritance Tax Change On Pensions

    Four out of 10 people in Britain are concerned about the government's decision to bring pensions within the scope of inheritance tax, according to a survey by a consultancy on Monday.

  • July 28, 2025

    SocGen Settles €140M Clifford Chance Negligence Claim

    Société Générale SA and Clifford Chance LLP have settled their €140 million ($163.3 million) dispute over the bank's allegations that the law firm gave negligent advice that caused its claim in a multimillion-dollar dispute over gold bullion to be struck out as an abuse of process.

  • July 27, 2025

    Suspected Trading Scam 'Mastermind' Can't Block Extradition

    An Israeli accused of being the "mastermind" behind call centers that allegedly scammed investors out of €14 million ($16 million) by posing as trading platform employees lost a bid on Friday to block his extradition to Germany from the U.K.

  • July 25, 2025

    Switzerland Faces $5B Claim After Credit Suisse Collapse

    Switzerland is facing another claim arising from the 2023 collapse of Credit Suisse and the write-down of some $17 billion worth of Additional Tier 1 bonds, as global law firm Holman Fenwick Willan LLP announced its intention to file a $5 billion investor-state claim against the country on behalf of a "substantial group" of bondholders.

  • July 25, 2025

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

    This past week in London has seen the owner of a £6 million ($8 million) mansion once rented by Adele sue real estate consultants Strutt & Parker, Romanian-Australian mining investor Vasile Frank Timis bring a claim against reputation and privacy firm Schillings, and a Chinese businessman bring a legal action against his former lawyer over an alleged £12.5 million mortgage fraud.

  • July 25, 2025

    FCA Fines Former H2O Exec £1M And Bars Him From Industry

    The U.K.'s financial watchdog said Friday that it has banned a former senior executive of asset manager H2O from the financial industry and fined him £1.05 million ($1.41 million) for misleading the regulator about risky investments linked to financier Lars Windhorst.

  • July 25, 2025

    Research Co Scientist Loses Anonymity Bid In Data Theft Case

    A data scientist at a finance research firm accused of stealing his employer's trade secrets before resigning to work for a competitor failed Friday to keep his identity secret until the start of the trial.

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

  • Comparing UK And EU's View On 3rd-Party Service Providers

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    The U.K. is taking welcome steps to address the lack of direct oversight over critical third-party service providers, and although less onerous than that of the EU Digital Operational Resilience Act, the U.K. regime's proportionate approach is designed to make providers more robust and reliable, say lawyers at Shearman.

  • Key Points Of BoE Response To Digital Pound Consultation

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    Lawyers at Hogan Lovells analyze the recent Bank of England and U.K. government response to a consultation on the launch of a digital pound, finding that the phased approach to evaluating the issues makes sense given the significant potential impact on the U.K. economy.

  • Goldman Prosecution Delivers A Clear Sign Of FCA Strength

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    The recent successful prosecution of a former Goldman Sachs analyst for insider dealing and fraud is a reminder to regulated individuals that economic crime will never be tolerated, and that the Financial Conduct Authority is willing to bare its teeth in the exercise of its prosecutorial remit, says Doug Cherry at Fladgate.

  • The Good, The Bad And The New Of The UK Sanctions Regime

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    Almost six years after the Sanctions and Money Laundering Act was introduced, the U.K. government has published a strategy paper that outlines its focus points and unveils potential changes to the regime, such as a new humanitarian exception for financial sanctions, highlighting the rapid transformation of the U.K. sanctions landscape, says Josef Rybacki at WilmerHale.

  • A Look At Environment Agency's New Economic Crime Unit

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    Sophie Wood at Kingsley Napley explains how the Environment Agency’s newly established Economic Crime Unit will pursue criminal money flows from environmental offenses, and discusses the unit’s civil powers, including the ability to administer account freezing and forfeiture orders, says Sophie Wood at Kingsley Napley.

  • Opinion

    UK Whistleblowers Flock To The US For Good Reason

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    The U.K. Serious Fraud Office director recently brought renewed attention to the differences between the U.K. and U.S. whistleblower regimes — differences that may make reporting to U.S. agencies a better and safer option for U.K. whistleblowers, and show why U.K. whistleblower laws need to be improved, say Benjamin Calitri and Kate Reeves at Kohn Kohn.

  • 4 Legal Privilege Lessons From Dechert Disclosure Ruling

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    The Court of Appeal's recent decision in Al Sadeq v. Dechert LLP, finding that evidence may have been incorrectly withheld, provides welcome clarification of the scope of legal professional privilege, including the application of the iniquity exception, says Tim Knight at Travers Smith.

  • BT Case May Shape UK Class Action Landscape

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    The first opt-out collective action trial commenced in Le Patourel v. BT in the U.K. Competition Appeal Tribunal last month, regarding BT's abuse of dominance by overcharging millions of customers, will likely provide clarification on damages and funder returns in collective actions, which could significantly affect the class action regime, say lawyers at RPC.

  • Key Points From EC Economic Security Screening Initiatives

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    Lawyers at Herbert Smith analyze the European Commission's five recently announced initiatives aimed at de-risking the EU's trade and investment links with third countries, including the implementation of mandatory screening mechanisms and extending coverage to investments made by EU companies that are controlled subsidiaries of non-EU investors.

  • Following The Road Map Toward Quantum Security

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    With the Financial Conduct Authority’s recent publication of a white paper on a quantum-secure financial sector, firms should begin to consider the quantum transition early — before the process is driven by regulatory obligations — with the goal of developing a cybersecurity architecture that is agile while also allowing for quantum security, say lawyers at Cleary.

  • Why EU Ruling On Beneficial Ownership May Affect The UK

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    Following the EU judgment in Sovim v. Luxembourg that public access to beneficial ownership information conflicts with data protection rights, several British overseas territories and dependencies have recently reversed their commitment to introduce unrestricted access, and challenges to the U.K.’s liberal stance may be on the cards, says Rupert Cullen at Allectus Law.

  • Key Changes In FRC Code Aim To Promote Good Governance

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    The focus of the recently published Financial Reporting Council Corporate Governance Code on risk management and internal controls is to ensure the competitiveness of the U.K. listing regime while not compromising on governance standards, and issuers may wish to consider updating their policies in order to follow best practice, say lawyers at Debevoise.

  • Ruling In FCA Case Offers Tips On Flexible Work Requests

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    In Wilson v. Financial Conduct Authority, the Employment Tribunal recently found that the regulator's rejection of a remote work request was justified, highlighting for employers factors that affect flexible work request outcomes, while emphasizing that individual inquiries should be considered on the specific facts, say Frances Rollin, Ella Tunnell and Kerry Garcia at Stevens & Bolton.

  • Breaking Down The New UK Pension Funding Regs

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    Recently published U.K. pension regulations, proposing major changes to funding and investing in defined benefit pension schemes, raise implementation considerations for trustees, including the importance of the employer covenant, say Charles Magoffin and Elizabeth Bullock at Freshfields.

  • Predicting DeFi Regulations At Home And Abroad In 2024

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    Though decentralized finance has advocates on both sides of the Atlantic in figures like U.S. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce and U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, DeFi in 2024 seems likely to be folded into existing regulatory frameworks in the U.K. and EU, while anti-crypto scrutiny may discourage DeFi’s growth in the U.S., say Daniel Csefalvay and Eric Martin at BCLP.

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