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The (Tax) League of Nations
This may not come as a huge surprise to tax and finance directors up and down the country, but the UK has continued its slide down the international league table of tax competitiveness, according to a new report from PWC.
Read moreAiming at different targets? An update on ARROW outcomes
The FSA's recent Smaller Wholesale Insurance Intermediaries newsletter contains some interesting observations on ARROW visits it has carried out recently.
Read moreRPC’s Financial Services Update – November 2011
Our Financial Services Update (November 2011 edition) is now available.
Read more'SFO Confidential' - combatting corruption on a shoestring
In a resourceful move by Richard Alderman, the SFO last week revealed a new service it hopes will help to identify fraud and bribery in the City.
Read moreEverything you wanted to know about FOS and are no longer afraid to ask
The FOS opened last week for the business of being open. It is now subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
Read moreThe regulator, regulated: Judge tells FSA to follow same procedures as police
A High Court Judge has heavily criticised the FSA's use of legally privileged material in an enforcement action in circumstances where the individual concerned was never informed that such material would be used, much less consulted as to whether he waived privilege.
Read moreMore CASS casualties
Recent announcements regarding Towry Investment Management Limited and MF Global UK confirm the protection of client money and custody assets remains one of the FSA's top priorities.
Read moreAn arresting development
HMRC officers have arrested a tax advisor on the very day that he was due to give evidence before the Tax Tribunal on a capital gains tax issue.
Read moreProduct intervention - is the FSA jumping the gun on its new powers?
On two successive days last week, the FSA issued guidance consultation on product design.
Read moreHigh Risk Avoidance Schemes – is another new regime really the way forward?
HMRC's consultation on "High Risk Tax Avoidance Schemes", which closed at the end of August, has attracted some heavyweight responses it seems.
Read moreThe FRC's proposals for reform - a clearer focus?
The FRC has recently published consultation proposals for its reform.
Read moreCausation, causation, causation...
Lord Turner's key note speech at the Mansion House on 20 October confirms the FSA wants Parliament to reconsider the 'trade-off'...
Read moreNames of junior AML staff not disclosable under standard disclosure
For many firms subject to the anti-money laundering regulations it is a case of 'damned if you do, damned if you don't':
Read moreLindsay Middleton joins RPC
As Head of RPC’s Regulatory Group, I am delighted to announce that we have recruited Lindsay Middleton.
Read moreGaines-Cooper – the end of the road for the taxpayer
The Supreme Court, by a majority of four to one, has dismissed both appeals in the jointly heard judicial review cases of R (Davies and another) v HMRC; R (Gaines-Cooper) v HMRC [2011] UKSC 47 on 19 October 2011.
Read moreStatutory interest and the real world – time to bridge the gap?
In the UK it is accepted that the aim of compensation is to put a person back into the position they would have been in had they not suffered loss.
Read moreIndependence in the new world of RDR
Go in search of an IFA who isn't worried about the impact of RDR on their independence, and you'll probably be searching for a while.
Read morePI 'trading debts exclusion' prevents claims for CFA scheme debts when ATE won't pay
A judgment became public yesterday which concerns the operation of the trading debts exclusion in a solicitors' indemnity policy and also the scope of cover afforded by such policies more generally.
Read moreIs the net really closing on Swiss bank accounts?
HMRC announced last week that they will shortly be writing to UK resident individuals and organisations holding bank accounts with HSBC in Geneva, using information obtained under a tax treaty last year.
Read moreLloyd's confirms that there is no movement in the Solvency II timetable
For the avoidance of any doubt Lloyd's confirmed (yesterday) that the current timetable for both managing agents and Lloyd's still applies.
Read moreWomen wanted: FRC and ABI want greater diversity on boards
Just 14 per cent of directors – executive and non-executive – of Britain’s 100 biggest companies are women.
Read moreThere is no escape - collecting cross border tax
On 16 March 2010 the EU introduced Council Directive 2010/24/EU which deals with the mutual assistance across EU member states for the recovery of tax claims.
Read moreAll aboard the causation bandwagon...
Like the proverbial buses that eventually arrive in pairs, at a time when there has been much controversy about the issue of causation
Read moreUK self-assesses anti-bribery controls as part of UN review
The UK has now published a self-assessment of its anti-bribery controls as part of a UN review intended to evaluate the UK's compliance with its obligations as a signatory to the UN Convention against Corruption.
Read moreFighting the cause for causation...
In response to my press release about a proposal to do away with the law of causation from the financial services sector (on which Robbie Constance commented in more detail)
Read moreSRA Handbook - a slim volume of new rules for solicitors?
In 1974 the Law Society published a slim volume entitled "A guide to the professional conduct of solicitors."
Read morePersonal liability for directors – No escape from the taxman
One of the criticisms that is often made of the UK's complex insolvency legislation is that it is too easy for the directors of a company to put it into liquidation or administration, 'dump' the company's debts and then effectively start the same business again under the guise of a new company.
Read moreWhich will happen first - the end of the FSA or the introduction of Solvency II?
The FSA's revised implementation assumption that Solvency II will not come into force for firms until 1 January 2014 is a belated acceptance of delay in the negotiation of the Omnibus Directive and the European legislation which had been known in Brussels for months.
Read moreThe missing link: FSA wants strict liability by disapplying the law of causation
The FSA has now floated the idea of enshrining in statute what we have long known to be its (and FOS') objection to the law of causation.
Read moreThe Taxman vs. the Treasury Select Committee: round 2
Following his first outing before the House of Commons' Treasury Select Committee in March, and the publication of the Committee's report in July (see my previous post), Dave Hartnett, the Permanent Secretary for Tax, returned on 12 September to answer further questions from MPs.
Read moreNew Injunction Guidance
We have previously reported on the controversy surrounding the number and effect of privacy injunctions
Read moreRio's "role model" image unravels - landslide media victory in privacy case
Serial tweeter Rio Ferdinand has lost his privacy battle against the Sunday Mirror. His privacy row related to a "kiss and tell" story published in the Sunday Mirror last year.
Read moreWhen is a penalty unfair?
A recent tribunal case, Hok Limited v Revenue and Customs Commissioners (TC 1286) has found that HMRC did not act fairly and in good conscience where it had deliberately delayed sending out a penalty for the late filing of an employer's end of year returns until four months after the deadline had expired.
Read moreA word of 'advice'
'Advice' is a loaded word. Different interpretations have very significant and distinct regulatory implications:
Read moreOFT to investigate 'super-complaint' into high costs of currency and using cards overseas
The OFT this morning confirmed that it has received a 'super complaint' from Consumer Focus, a dedicated consumer body, about the high costs to the consumer of using credit and debit cards overseas and obtaining foreign currency.
Read moreTime (bar) is of the essence...
Last Thursday marked the third anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers which may have drawn a line in the sands of time for complaints about the mis-selling of investments before September 2005.
Read moreHMRC opens its books to mortgage lenders
Having been first announced in the March 2010 Budget and following a pilot, the mortgage verification scheme, a joint venture between HMRC, the Council of Mortgage Lenders and the Building Societies Association, was finally launched at the start of the month.
Read moreCMC trade association should be welcomed, not derided
A number of CMCs combined last week to launch the Association of Professional Claims Managers (APCM) to "increase the professionalism and levels of service provided by regulated claims management companies".
Read moreFOS announces plans to publish Ombudsman decisions (in full)
On Friday, the FOS released a consultation paper on its proposal to publish Ombudsman decisions.
Read moreSFO turns to tax returns to uncover bribery
It was reported last week that the SFO will call for companies' tax returns in a bid to uncover (particularly overseas) bribery payments.
Read moreSFO to request tax records
The SFO warned last week that companies suspected of paying bribes to win work overseas may be forced to hand over their tax records, in the hope that these may yield evidence of such bribes.
Read moreFirst Bribery Act prosecution - an opportunity missed
The news of the first prosecution under the new Bribery Act will leave commentators and headline writers alike disappointed.
Read moreStart your engines – OFT launches private motor insurance call for evidence
The OFT has this morning issued a 'call for evidence' on the UK private motor insurance industry.
Read moreFOS complaints: you win some; you lose some (or only a few; or almost all)
Today's latest round of FOS complaints data tells the expected tale of woe about PPI complaints but also shows a remarkable disparity between firms' success rates.
Read moreMortgage Verification Scheme to combat mortgage fraud
HMRC, the CML and the BSA have just launched the Mortgage Verification Scheme aimed at combating mortgage application fraud.
Read moreIs the tide turning? HMRC lose discovery assessment appeal
Concern has been building for some time amongst taxpayers and their advisers about HMRC's apparently unfettered use of discovery assessments.
Read morePPI: The storm before the hurricane?
Yesterday the FSA announced the levels of redress paid by firms during the first six months of 2011 to consumers who have complained about mis-selling of PPI.
Read moreOne ombudsman, two ombudsmen, three ombudsmen, more?
In a world where the various ombudsmen are replacing the Courts for the resolution of consumer claims, what happens when two or more respondent firms are covered by the jurisdiction of different ombudsman schemes?
Read moreToo easy? The UK's recent deal with the Swiss banks
The Swiss banking sector contributes 6.7% of the country's gross domestic product, almost 10% of tax revenues and provides the country with 142,000 skilled jobs.
Read moreMorrison fined by the FSA
At first sight, headlines about a hefty fine meted out by the FSA on a former director of a supermarket chain may have led people to presume that Sir Ken Morrison had incurred the wrath of the Food Standards Agency rather than the Financial Service Authority.
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