Policy loan meaning

In this issue: Criminal procedure and evidence Bribery, corruption, sanctions and export controls Consumer protection and cartels Cybercrime and data protection offences Environmental offences Financial services and pensions offences Fraud, forgery, tax and theft offences Health and safety and corporate manslaughter offences Insolvency offences and Companies Act offences Local authority prosecutions Money laundering Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Criminal procedure and evidence Email caution offers a rare glimpse into SFO record-keeping. Disclosures show a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) official urged investigators to avoid setting out case concerns in emails, highlighting how grinding disclosure disputes shaped the agency’s approach while it was under intense scrutiny over its evidence practices. See News Analysis: Email warning provides rare sight into SFO record-keeping... Bribery, corruption, sanctions and export controls FCDO issues guidance on consolidating UK sanctions lists by January...

In this issue: Budgets, Autumn Statements and Finance Bills Employee benefit trusts Useful information Dates for your diary Weekly highlights from other practice areas Budgets, Autumn Statements and Finance Bills Budget date confirmed for 26 November 2025 Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has announced that the Budget will be held on Wednesday 26 November 2025. For details, see House of Commons Written Statement HCWS902. 3 September 2025 Employee benefit trusts HM Treasury publishes policy note and draft regulations on reforming the Money Laundering regime HM Treasury (HMT) has issued a policy note outlining proposed changes to the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (MLRs 2017), SI 2017/692, alongside the draft Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment and Miscellaneous Provision) Regulations 2025. The proposals set out targeted updates to the MLRs 2017, SI 2017/692 across several areas, aiming to plug regulatory gaps, respond to emerging risks,...

In this issue Equality and human rights Constitutional and administrative law Judicial review Public procurement Subsidy control and State aid Post-Brexit transition guidance Information law Other Public Law news Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information No Weekly Highlights on 24 April 2025 Equality and human rights Supreme Court rules that the EqA 2010 terms ‘man’, ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ denote biological sex (For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers). In For Women Scotland Ltd v Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16, the UK Supreme Court unanimously concluded that these terms identify biological sex rather than ‘certificated sex’. The court determined that those holding a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) are not included within the EqA 2010 definition of their acquired gender. The ruling confirms that trans people remain safeguarded by the Act’s gender reassignment provisions and may pursue sex discrimination claims where...

Scope of this Practice Note This Practice Note examines the UK regulatory considerations encountered by crowdfunding platforms from a financial services standpoint. It ought to be read in conjunction with the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA 2000), together with relevant secondary legislation, and regulatory rules and guidance, including, in particular, provisions within the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Handbook and the FCA’s webpage devoted to crowdfunding. This Note briefly outlines initiatives at EU level in relation to regulating crowdfunding, which are discussed in detail in Practice Note EU Regulation of crowdfunding—the ECSP Regulation and the MiFID II Crowdfunding Directive. Crowdfunding (sometimes referred to as 'crowd sourcing' or 'crowd financing') operates on the basis that individuals seeking capital, such as entrepreneurs, present ventures or businesses on an online platform, and members of the public contribute funds through that platform. There is no ceiling on an individual contribution; however, unlike more established fundraising methods, many platforms enable participants to put in as little as £10. Typically, the entrepreneur will be...

What is prepayment finance? Prepayment finance, a form of commodities finance, describes arrangements where buyers fund commodity producers by paying ahead of delivery. This well-established model channels funding directly to buyers or traders of goods and commodities, and indirectly to producers and exporters. Under this structure, a buyer—often called the offtaker—makes an advance to the producer or exporter, with that prepayment backed by a separate loan provided to the offtaker by a lender, typically a bank or a syndicate of banks. Such structures are advantageous to: producers, as they can obtain credit that would otherwise be unavailable through the conventional banking system; and buyers, as the financing enables them to secure long-term supply agreements with producers in return for providing funds. They are especially valuable where the producer operates in jurisdictions with exchange control regulations or tax regimes that prohibit or penalise direct lending to producers by overseas financial institutions. Such regimes often permit advance payments to producers for the purchase...

STOP PRESS: At the 2025 Budget, the government confirmed plans to legislate against IHT avoidance that exploits the situs of personal assets and trust property. A key proposal expands rules on indirect holdings of UK residential property to capture UK agricultural property. For further detail, see: Budget 2025—Private Client analysis — International and Policy Paper: Inheritance Tax: anti-avoidance measures for non-long-term UK residents and trusts. This Practice Note outlines amendments to the excluded property rules from 6 April 2017 introduced by the Finance (No 2) Act 2017 (F(No 2)A 2017). As a result, UK inheritance tax (IHT) is charged on UK residential property owned by (or on behalf of) a long-term UK resident (LTR), whether held directly or via intermediate structures, unless the interest is through a diversely held vehicle. Before 6 April 2025, when domicile stopped being a relevant consideration for IHT, these provisions applied to individuals who were not domiciled, or were deemed domiciled, in the UK. For guidance on how domicile affected IHT, see Practice Note:...