Spin-out firms meaning

This timeline charts activity from 1 January 2024 onwards concerning the EU-facing legal and supervisory frameworks for anti-money laundering (AML), counter-terrorist financing (CTF) and counter‑proliferation financing (CPF) within the financial services sector. It traces both milestones and roll-out of the European AML, CTF and CPF rulebook. It also tracks cross-border initiatives in AML/CTF/CPF from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), IOSCO, the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) and the Wolfsberg Group. For added detail on the EU AML/CTF regime, consult the Financial crime and sanctions (EU Law)—overview, including Practice Notes on AMLA—direct oversight of qualifying financial services firms, the EU Sixth Money Laundering Directive (MLD6) and the EU Recast Second Wire Transfer Regulation (Recast WTR2) on cryptoasset transfers... 2026 16 March 2026 — AMLA — AMLA starts a data collection exercise to test risk assessment models. AMLA has issued the reporting package for this data collection and testing exercise...

This checklist is intended to guide you if you need to close your firm. Read it alongside subtopic: Firm closure plan, particularly Practice Note: Firm closure plan-key considerations. Plan and dates ☐ Create a firm closure plan (see Precedent: Firm closure plan). Recommended to show you can carry out an orderly wind-down of your activities, as required by the SRA-SRA Code for Firms, para 2.4. (Insert any comments you may wish to make regarding your firm’s arrangements) ☐ Allocate responsibility for the plan. Recommended. (Insert any comments you may wish to make regarding your firm’s arrangements) ☐ Set a closure date. Recommended. (Insert any comments you may wish to make regarding your firm’s arrangements) Notifications ☐ Send a completed Firm Closure Notification form to the SRA. Compulsory-SRA Code for Firms, para 2.5. (Insert any comments you may wish to make regarding your firm’s arrangements) ☐ Notify staff. Recommended. (Insert any comments you may wish to make regarding...

This Checklist sets out core topics for firms entering consumer credit, addressing essential management and compliance matters within the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) framework. It organises themes such as authorisation, threshold conditions, the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR), systems and controls, business planning, FCA Principles, the Consumer Duty and continuing regulatory duties, including adherence to the Consumer Credit sourcebook (CONC) and the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (CCA 1974). For fuller guidance, including how the application process works, see Practice Note: FCA authorisation of consumer credit firms. Scope and regulatory status Do the firm’s activities amount to regulated consumer credit activities under section 19 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA 2000), and the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 2001, SI 2001/544 (RAO)? See Practice Notes: The general prohibition and implications of its breach and Regulated activities relating to consumer credit Does the firm offer (or plan to offer) buy now pay later (BNPL)/deferred payment credit (DPC) style products?...

Does the business maintain a due diligence policy that covers every party to a commercial relationship, including the company’s supply chain, agents, joint ventures, intermediaries, or any comparable or similar arrangement? Has this policy been rolled out and properly enforced in all of the markets in which the company trades and operates? See Precedent: Anti‑bribery and corruption policy The company must know who it is engaging with to carry out an effective risk assessment. It should use a due diligence information form that the contracting party completes and signs, so the due diligence information supplied can be reviewed and assessed by the company...

This flowchart sets out the principal taxes relevant to UK residential property arrangements for UK resident and domiciled individuals, and should be read alongside the Practice Note: UK residential property ownership structures for UK resident and domiciled individuals—taxation outline...

In this issue: Equity capital markets Corporate governance Public company takeovers (Offers) Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers New Q&As Useful information Equity capital markets FCA publishes consultations and policy statement aimed at capital markets reform The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has unveiled a suite of measures intended to reinforce the UK’s capital markets. These include: a consultation on proposed rules to create the new Public Offers and Admissions to Trading Regime (POATRs), which will replace the current UK Prospectus Regulation; a consultation setting out proposals for a new activity of operating a public offer platform; and a consultation on derivatives trading obligations designed to improve secondary market regulation, cut systemic risk and minimise disruption for firms. The package also contains policy statement PS24/9, Payment Optionality for Investment Research. See: LNB News 26/07/2024 25. FCA publishes updated checklists and forms following implementation of UK...

On 24 March 2025, the Central Bank of Ireland (Central Bank) released its inaugural Insurance Quarterly Newsletter (newsletter) for 2025. It features several significant pieces for Irish (re)insurers, such as the Central Bank’s yearly Regulatory & Supervisory Outlook Report, discussion of asset‑intensive reinsurance, and updates to the Consumer Protection Code (with the Business Standards). The Regulatory and Supervisory Outlook Report The Central Bank published its Regulatory and Supervisory Outlook Report on 28 February 2025 (report). It set out the Central Bank’s perspective on principal trends and risks across the financial system and came with a Dear CEO letter describing the Central Bank’s updated supervisory approach. The newsletter draws out the report’s central themes, notably the Central Bank’s Supervisory Priorities for 2025. proactive risk control and leadership that puts consumers at the centre within firms ensuring firms remain resilient amid a difficult macroeconomic backdrop remediation of weaknesses in operating frameworks by firms effective change management within firms tackling climate change and progressing...

Pagden (as liquidator of Core VCT IV Plc and Core VCT V plc) and others v Fry and other cases [2025] EWHC 2316 (Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? This decision clarifies that, although liquidators’ firms and their personnel may, in certain circumstances, invoke limitation clauses in relation to distinct contractual or tortious duties (always subject to the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 and fact-specific questions of vicarious liability), individual liquidators cannot restrict the statutory obligations that arise under a statutory trust. Sensible practice is for liquidators and their firms to revisit engagement letters to (a) set out, with precision, the separation between liquidators’ statutory functions and any contractual or advisory services; and (b) add explicit carve-outs confirming that limitation provisions have no application to the liquidators’ statutory duties. What was the background? The claimants are three companies that issued proceedings against their former liquidators and the firm of those former office-holders (the defendants). They contend the defendants breached fiduciary, tortious and contractual...

Your complaints handling framework (see Practice Note: How to implement and maintain effective complaints handling procedures—law firms) should reflect the scale and character of your firm. Recognise that some circumstances will call for a more bespoke response, while still being managed within your overall complaints processes. This How-to-guide highlights examples where additional factors may need attention beyond those covered by your standard complaints handling framework... Complaints about the bill Concerns about bills arise fairly often. You must handle a billing complaint in exactly the same manner as any other complaint. The Legal Ombudsman (LeO) has issued guidance on Complaints about legal costs, having identified recurring themes. Although aimed particularly at matters funded by conditional fee agreements, it offers a broader view of LeO’s general approach. When assessing cost-related complaints, LeO will consider whether, from the outset, you ensured the client fully grasped what they would, or might, be required to pay. The guidance also sets out LeO’s expectations across a range of scenarios and questions where clarity on...

At any one time, most practices carry a handful of aged, typically modest, residual balances tied to client matters within the firm. In the normal run of business, handling these residual balances ought to be straightforward, routine housekeeping. On occasion, though, the volume and spread of residual balances is such that a more substantial project is needed to bring them back under firm control. This Practice Note explores practical questions that can confront the project sponsor, eg the COLP or COFA, when initiating a programme to address your firm’s residual balances. It sets out the circumstances that may prompt commencing a project, how best to start and organise the work, and offers pragmatic pointers designed to lighten the project sponsor’s workload considerably. It should be read in conjunction with Practice Note: Residual balances—law firms. In what circumstances will a residual balances project be required? You may have undertaken a residual balance project...

This Practice Note This Practice Note sets out how the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) conducts its formal administrative procedures under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA 2000), with particular emphasis on Part XXVI (Notices), alongside the PRA’s statements of policy and procedure for reaching decisions... Outcomes may involve supervisory steps—such as varying or imposing requirements—or formal enforcement, including a public censure or a financial penalty, directed at PRA‑authorised firms or individuals... It explains the PRA’s decision‑making routes for issuing statutory notices under FSMA 2000, namely: Supervisory Notices Warning Notices Decision Notices Final Notices Notices of Discontinuance The Note also sets out how subjects can make representations, including orally, at a hearing before PRA decision‑making bodies such as the Supervision, Risk and Policy Committee (SRPC) or the Enforcement Decision Making Committee (EDMC)... The Securitisation Regulation 2024 (SI 2024/102) broadened the PRA’s enforcement remit to cover firms engaged in securitisation that are not PRA‑authorised. Under the...

ARCHIVED: This Precedent has been archived and not maintained. From 1 September 2021, candidates may qualify through the training contract route only if they satisfy the SRA’s transitional requirements. Otherwise, qualification must be via the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE). For information, see Practice Note: The Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE). [ Subject to contract ] Dear [ insert name of trainee solicitor ] Further to [ your interview on [ insert date ], ] I am pleased to confirm the Firm’s offer of employment as a trainee solicitor, subject to the conditions outlined below. [ If accepted, this offer will be formalised in OR I attach ] [ our standard recognised training contract ] (the ‘Training Contract’), and, where any inconsistency arises, its terms will take precedence over the details set out below. Terms of offer The principal terms of our offer are: to provide recognised training for you in accordance with the SRA Standards and Regulations (the ‘Standards and Regulations’) [...

1 General information Review timeframe [ Insert review period ] Review date [ Insert date ] Individual(s) carrying out the review [ Insert name(s) ] 2 Data Total count of high-risk clients [ Insert number ] Total count of high-risk matters [ Insert number ] Total count of these that pertain to PEPs [ Insert number ] Total count of these that concern false or stolen identification documentation [ Insert number ] Total count of these that involve sanctioned entities [ Insert number ] Total count of these that present a proliferation financing concern [ Insert number ] Total count of these that involve clients who are beneficiaries of life insurance policies where the retainer has a direct link to the policy [ Insert number ] Total count of these that concern clients seeking residence/citizenship rights of a state in exchange for investments in that state [ Insert number ] Total...

1 Introduction to the policy 1.1 [ Firm name ] must implement appropriate systems and controls to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (MLR 2017), SI 2017/692, as amended. 1.2 For further detail on MLR 2017, see section 10. 2 Scope and application 2.1 This policy sets out the procedures we have developed to comply with MLR 2017, as amended. 2.2 This policy applies to all [ our offices, ] employees, officers, consultants, contractors and to other workers, including agency workers, casual workers [ , volunteers ] [ , interns ] and home workers. 2.3 All staff must be familiar with this policy and comply with its terms. 2.4 This policy does not form part of any contract of employment and we may amend it at any time. 3 Responsibility for AML, CTF and counter-proliferation financing...

Section 7 of the Bribery Act 2010 (BA 2010) provides: (1) A relevant commercial organisation (“C”) is guilty of an offence under this section if a person (“A”) associated with C offers a bribe to another person with the intention of: (a) securing or retaining business for C; or (b) securing or retaining an advantage in the conduct of C’s business. (2) However, it is a defence for C to prove that it had in place adequate procedures devised to prevent persons associated with C from carrying out such conduct. BA 2010, s 8 defines an associated person: (1) For the purposes of section 7, a person (“A”) is associated with C if (disregarding any bribe under consideration) A is a person who performs services for or on behalf of C. (2) The capacity in which A performs services for or on behalf of C does not matter. (3) Accordingly A may (for example) be C’s...