RPC Regulatory Blog

Commentary on the latest in regulation

Blog editor promoted to Partnership

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Steven Francis

I am pleased to announce that Robbie Constance has been promoted to Partner, adding further depth and breadth to our Regulatory Group. Robbie handles a broad range of contentious and non-contentious financial services regulatory work but focuses on the insurance and wealth / asset management sector... read more

Regulator's pursuit of market misconduct in Hong Kong – Top court delivers written judgment

Posted on May 23, 2013 by David Smyth, Senior Partner – Smyth & Co – Hong Kong

As noted in my blog of 30 April, the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong ("the CFA") abruptly dismissed the appeal in Tiger Asia Management LLC & Ors v Securities and Futures Commission ("the SFC"), FACV Nos. 10, 11, 12 and 13 of 2012. The CFA handed down its written judgment on 10 May. There are... read more

FCA launches thematic probe into 'transition management' in asset management sector

Posted on May 09, 2013 by James Wickes

It has been reported in the FT overnight that the FCA is swooping on the London offices of the world’s biggest banks and asset managers in a new probe aimed at a widespread (and lucrative) business known as "transition management". The FCA's site visits have been commissioned to investigate the pro... read more

Clark v In Focus appeal – watch this space

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Rachel Huxley

In Focus has now been granted permission to appeal against the decision of the High Court in Clark v In Focus. Contrary to the 2010 decision in Andrews v SBJ Benefit Consultants, on 19 December 2012 the High Court in Clark held that a Claimant who has accepted a FOS award under the statutory scheme... read more

Dawn raids: regulatory inspections of your IT equipment and storage media

Posted on April 08, 2013 by Andrew Maxwell

The European Commission has recently affirmed its current practices for searching IT equipment and storage media during a 'dawn raid' inspection of business premises where it suspects a breach of EU competition law. The Office of Fair Trading also has similar dawn raid powers where it suspects a bre... read more

LeO maximum monetary award increases – but at least it's final

Posted on February 01, 2013 by Robbie Constance

The Legal Ombudsman – or LeO to its new friends – has today been granted the power to award £50k (up from £30k). Although lawyers now face increased exposures to LeO complaints, they can at least be sure that, once a maximum award is accepted, that will be the end of the matter. We thought the ... read more

FSA market study into insurance add-ons 'shines a light' on competition

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Andrew Maxwell

The FSA has recently announced details of a market study into general insurance add-on products in a bid to 'shine a light' on how competition operates within the 'relevant markets' for such products. This follows the October 2012 FSA publication 'Journey to the FCA', which firmly embedded competit... read more

FOS: Pit stop on the road to court?

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Rachel Huxley

As I reported in December, following the case of Clark v In Focus Asset Management and Tax Solutions, a complainant may now accept a maximum monetary award from FOS and then bring a civil claim through the courts to sue for the balance of their loss. In response to the Court's finding in Clark, the ... read more

Suing for the balance – High Court tips the scales the other way

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Rachel Huxley

In a shocking about-turn, the High Court yesterday handed down judgment holding that a FOS complainant may accept a maximum monetary award and then bring a civil claim in court to claim for the balance. The case of Clark -v- In Focus Asset Management & Tax Solutions goes against previous case l... read more

RDR – from commission bias to service bias?

Posted on December 07, 2012 by Robbie Constance

This morning’s research from Which?, that reveals continuing pressure within the big banks to sell, lays bare one of the fundamental shortcomings of RDR: losses result from poor performing products, not commission-biased choices between products. For so long as advisers and sales staff are incentiv... read more

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About this blog

Regulation - of the financial services sector in particular - is constantly changing. At RPC, we watch the horizon of the regulated landscape with genuine interest on behalf of clients and others. There are consultants who (at considerable cost) provide more news and content but in this blog we share our thoughts on key developments as they occur and, drawing on our breadth of experience in regulation, we comment on legal and regulatory issues that might not occur to every financial services specialist.