Financial Services - Regulatory & Risk
Restrictive covenants – good paperwork is only part of the solution
It feels that the economic pie continues to shrink. And with that backdrop, most businesses are trying just to hold on to market share.
Read moreUCIS of death
The FSA’s relentless drive to impose personal responsibility on senior management took another significant step recently...
Read moreSporting decisions? Promotion, relegation and writing the rules of the game
Two recent rulings demonstrate the need for sports regulators such as the English and Welsh rugby unions to lay down clear and sufficiently comprehensive rules governing their sports that do not restrict competition.
Read moreThe first and final stop for exemplary damages?
Exemplary damages and competition law are not obvious bedfellows.
Read moreTough times, tough talk, tough regulator
At the FSA’s final Enforcement Conference on Monday, Tracy McDermott, the acting director of the FSA’s Enforcement and Financial Crime Division, issued a scathing attack on the financial services industry and gave an indication as to the interventionist future planned for the FSA’s successor, the FCA.
Read moreCable may tie down Goodwin, despite his eluding the FSA’s net; Turner and Sants call for smaller holes
In response to the October 2008 failure of RBS, news reports suggest that Vince Cable MP, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, may apply for an order to disqualify Fred Goodwin from being able to hold any future directorship of a UK company.
Read moreBinary causation arguments could be turned into percentages as ‘loss of chance’ principle gains judicial support in investment loss case
The High Court recently considered whether it would be appropriate for FOS to make an award on the basis of an investor’s lost opportunity to decide – with the benefit of proper advice – whether or not to enter into a recommended investment scheme.
Read moreKeeping up with competition law reform – don’t rush
In March 2012, the Government confirmed its plans to merge the functions of the OFT and the Competition Commission into a single competition law body, the Competition and Markets Authority.
Read moreOFT gives provisional green light for in-depth review of private motor insurance market
The OFT announced last week its provisional decision to refer the private motor insurance market to the Competition Commission (CC) for in-depth review.
Read moreFSA roars as SFO reveals itself to be a paper tiger
In the same week that the SFO was criticised for its failure to act in two high profile cases and its failure to conduct a single raid in the last financial year, the FSA meted out its largest ever fine for an individual in a non market abuse case.
Read moreBreaching the perimeter – twice could be enough to be ‘by way of business’
The Court of Appeal has held that an individual who accepted deposits on two separate occasions, that were over 18 months apart, may be liable to conviction for carrying on an unauthorised regulated activity, contrary to the general prohibition (s.19 and 23 FSMA 2000).
Read moreDirectors & Officers beware - the SFO gets serious
Following the collapse of various high profile cases and the subsequent inquiry into its practices, change is clearly rife at the Serious Fraud Office.
Read moreNot so credible deterrence
The FSA's Enforcement Guide states that taking action against individuals sends an important message about the FSA's regulatory objectives and priorities and the FSA considers that such cases have important deterrent values.
Read moreFriday 13th brings bad news for CMCs
The Law Society Gazette has today revealed (following a FoI Request) that in the twelve months to March 2012, 734 CMC businesses were 'cancelled' by the MoJ.
Read moreFirst it was insurance brokers and now it's investment bankers... FSA tests anti-bribery and corruption controls at investment banks
The FSA recently published the findings of its thematic review of anti-bribery and corruption (ABC) systems and controls at 15 investment banks.
Read moreHector Sants’ resignation will throw finance sector into confusion
Hector Sants’ resignation this morning is surprising given that his remit was to deliver an orderly transition to the government’s new twin peaks regulatory structure.
Read moreIt ain't broke, but… - Government finally confirms how it proposes to fix the UK competition regime
The Department for Business Innovation and Skills today published its long-awaited response to its consultation on reforming the UK competition regime.
Read moreBack to the beginning – root cause analysis re-booted by de facto PPI past business review
The FSA's guidance to firms on contacting PPI customers that have not complained marks a resumption of hostilities in the PPI arena and amounts, in effect, to an industry-wide direction to conduct a past business review (PBR).
Read moreFRC plans to focus on disciplinary action
The FRC has published its Draft Plan & Budget for 2012/13.
Read morePPI – end of an era or a new chapter?
The FOS recently released its latest six-monthly figures showing the types and levels of complaints received by financial institutions.
Read moreWas Lehmans' collapse unforeseeable? The High Court said it was - but FOS disagrees
The courts and FOS are now headed down very different paths in their approach to credit crunch losses suffered by clients of regulated firms.
Read moreFSA delivers on AML promise
Following its thematic review and report on "Banks’ management of high money-laundering risk situations" published in June last year, the FSA on Monday announced that it has fined Coutts £8.75 million for anti-money laundering (AML) control failings.
Read moreSupreme Court widens scope of 'client money'
The Supreme Court yesterday ruled that client money held in un-segregated accounts should be treated the same as client money held in segregated accounts, ...
Read moreLeading regulatory and corporate crime silk to lead the AADB
Yesterday the FRC announced the appointment of Gareth Rees QC to the position of Executive Counsel to the Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board (AADB).
Read moreMoU between FCA and FOS: will complaints handling become more risky?
The FOS published a draft MoU with the future FCA that has blurred an already hazy line between the ombudsman and regulator.
Read moreInquiry into the SFO better late than never
Following the collapse of some high profile cases, Dominic Grieve, the Attorney General, has ordered an inquiry to review the SFO's casework and broader issues, including how the SFO chooses which cases to investigate.
Read moreCausation - the multi-billion pound question
The FSA's £1.5m fine imposed on Santander UK plc yesterday raises again the question of whether causation should be required for firms in the financial services industry to be liable to their clients.
Read moreFOS undeterred in its plans to publish firm names in Ombudsman decisions, despite concerns
The FOS has released a summary of responses to its September 2011 paper "publishing ombudsman decisions: next steps" confirming its plan to publish all Ombudsman decisions.
Read moreEinhorn not pleased as Punch with insider dealing fine of £7.2m
If you honestly believe that information given to you is not inside information but the FSA thinks your belief is unreasonably held, then you lay yourself open to sanctions for market abuse, notwithstanding that you have no intention to commit market abuse.
Read moreDividends paid to 'innocent' shareholders by 'criminal' companies vulnerable to civil recovery
When Mabey & Johnson Limited's parent received a dividend, little did it think that it would be vulnerable to civil recovery following the conviction of its subsidiary's employees for corruption and breaches of UN sanctions.
Read moreFOS supplementary PPI case fee suggests inefficiencies of scale
The National Audit Office's report published yesterday into the FOS' 'efficient handling of financial services complaints' challenged FOS to 'achieve efficiencies of scale' but, ...
Read moreThe 22 more free FOS cases of Christmas
On the twelfth day of Christmas, our Ombudsman service gave to us a proposal that would see smaller and medium sized firms given many more free complaints before a case fee applies.
Read more'Tentacles across the system': Joint Committee believes in monsters too…
The report published in December by the Joint Committee on the Draft Financial Services Bill offered no festive cheer:
Read moreHappy New maximum award limit
It is a sobering thought that FOS complaints made from January will be subject to the increased maximum award limit of £150k.
Read moreNo more nodding NEDs - FSA to make non-execs consumer champions
NEDs (and their D&O insurers) will be increasingly exposed to regulatory risk because of the FSA's new guidance.
Read moreBox on, ITV: OFCOM knocks out TV advertising industry review and regulatory change
In contrast to this week's OFT decision that it was an 'administrative priority' to conduct a market study into aspects of the UK private motor insurance industry, OFCOM has declined to launch a similar market investigation into TV advertising for reasons of proportionality.
Read moreOFT gives green light to market study into private motor insurance
The OFT has this morning confirmed that it is launching a market study into the UK private motor insurance industry following the call for evidence made in September.
Read moreYou can't rely on it, but you can't ignore it!
In furtherance of its statutory objective to reduce financial crime, on Friday the FSA has published a policy statement on financial crime - PS11/15 (the Guide) which has immediate effect.
Read moreUnderneath the mistletoe… UCIS review due in 2012
Another Christmas treat the industry will be glad to put off until the New Year was revealed by the publication of the FSA's Board minutes for July.
Read moreOld business, old customers, old liabilities - and HSBC is still paying
In today's news it is reported that HSBC will not only have to meet the costs of four file reviews, the FSA Enforcement process, the resulting fine of £10.5m and compensation of nearly £30m
Read moreBans, bans and more bans
For the fourth time in as many weeks, the FSA has curtailed the selling of a product under the guise of guidance.
Read moreMaking the punishment fit the crime
The FSA's Final Notices are now littered with directors of financial services firms personally fined and made the subject of prohibition orders, not only for dishonesty but also for lacking competence and capability in the management of their businesses.
Read moreIf at first you don't succeed, give up
Not deterred by the Court of Appeal's recent ruling that the names of junior AML staff are not disclosable under standard disclosure, Messrs Shah and Mahabeer continued their appeal against the following decisions.
Read moreFSA's insistence on senior management responsibility tested before the Tribunal
Two years on from the FSA's £8 million fine of UBS AG for systems and controls failures in breach of Principles 2 (skill, care and diligence) and 3 (adequate risk management systems)
Read moreWhat a difference a week makes
This week has seen a number of unwanted early Christmas presents for the IFA industry.
Read moreA reasonable approach to insuring your cat?
The FSA has taken RBS' insurance firms to task under the UTCCR for the terms of their pet insurance. RBS' wordings had said they would not pay "any costs that we do not consider reasonable or necessary".
Read moreTraded life policy ban – FSA jumps the gun
I commented earlier in the month on the FSA guidance on product design covering payment protection and structured products.
Read moreRPC evidence submitted to Joint Committee on the Draft Financial Services Bill
Following up on our concern about FSA proposals to change the law of causation insofar as it applies to financial services ...
Read moreBribery Act sentence misses the mark
The much reported first prosecution under the Bribery Act proved to be all but an irrelevance.
Read moreLO, LO, LO…
The Legal Ombudsman (LO) is reaching its long arm into law firms – and is not afraid to use its truncheon!
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