Financial Institutions

The introduction within the EU of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) led to frantic scrambles in the EU to achieve compliance. Such behaviour is understandable, given how easily a complaint may be made to a supervisory authority about organisations which allegedly breach data protection rules: in Britain, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has provided […]

This quarterly round-up looks into some of the main regulatory developments and trends in fintech regulation during the second quarter of 2018. The previous edition of this briefing for January to March 2018 can be found here. Evolution of ICOs  The market for initial coin offerings (ICOs) continues to develop despite increased regulatory scrutiny. As […]

Following the EU Withdrawal Bill officially becoming law, HM Treasury (HMT) published its approach to financial services legislation in the lead up to and immediately following Brexit.  In coordination with that publication, the Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) also published their own statements providing further detail on their roles under the proposed […]

Banks are generally not liable to compensate customers for fraudulent payments if the customer authorised the payment.  However, in Barclays Bank Plc v Quincecare Ltd [1992] 2 All E.R. 363 it was held that banks owe a duty to prevent fraudulent transactions if the bank has reasonable grounds for believing that the customer authorisation is […]

Many non-UK resident lenders in the commercial property sphere will often have encountered the problem of UK withholding tax on interest at 20%. As an alternative to the traditional double tax treaty relief method, the qualifying private placement is a relatively new method through which investors and lenders can be exempted from withholding tax on […]

Smart contracts are one of the major developments arising out of the distributed ledger and are intended to simplify how contracts are made and executed.   This briefing considers what they are and how they fit into the law of contract. What are smart contracts? There is no standard, generally accepted definition of smart contracts but […]

The Asset Management Market Study carried out by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) raised concerns about weak price competition and the ability of investors to seek the best value. Therefore the FCA has decided to introduce new rules and guidance applicable to authorised fund managers (AFMs) in respect of their management of authorised funds subject […]

This quarterly round-up looks into some of the main regulatory developments and trends in fintech regulation during the first quarter of 2018. Moves to regulate The appetite of governments and supervisors to regulate the crypto-world is increasing and, although short-term the position remains uncertain, it is clear that regulation is on its way. Within the […]

Recent amendments to the scope of the regulated activity of advising on investments now make a distinction between “general advice” and “personal recommendations”. The FCA has recently issued some further guidance (PS18/3: Perimeter guidance on personal recommendations on retail investments) which provides some indications of the type of activities which, in the view of the FCA, […]

2017 was an exciting year for fintech but 2018 promises to be even more eventful.  This briefing considers some of the regulatory developments that took place in 2017 and what these are likely to mean for fintech regulation in 2018. Please see link below for full briefing. Fintech regulation: Looking ahead to 2018  

A number of Employment Tribunal and court decisions over recent years have examined the effect of suspending an employee in order to investigate disciplinary allegations.  The result is that suspension, which might once have been considered a neutral act necessary to allow an unimpeded investigation and/or to prevent a recurrence of acts of misconduct, has now […]