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R (Greyhound Board of Great Britain Ltd) v Welsh Ministers [2026] EWHC 670 (Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? The ruling reinforces the constitutional divide between the courts and the legislature. It explains that the scheme and framework of the Government of Wales Act 2006 (GWA 2006) embody that separation of powers, and that any judicial attempt to recognise and enforce a common law obligation on Welsh Ministers to consult prior to introducing legislation in the Senedd would trespass upon that boundary. This is not a departure from established principle; case law has already upheld comparable rules for lawmakers in Scotland and at Westminster. However, this is the first express confirmation of the position for Welsh lawmakers, and the first time this dimension of the GWA 2006 has been analysed in such depth. The court examined earlier
The solution arrived through the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC), a quasi‑judicial body handling mass claims, created under UN Security Council Resolution 687. By addressing environmental harm—most notably via its ‘F4’ claim class—the UNCC set a seminal benchmark shaping how international law and contemporary arbitral panels allocate financial responsibility for wartime ecological devastation. With present-day wars in areas such as Eastern Europe and the Middle East bringing dam breaches, strikes on chemical facilities, and the burning of farmland, the UNCC’s legacy endures as an essential reference point for states, global investors, and companies engaged in post‑conflict arbitration. The F4 claims: Quantifying the unquantifiable Prior to the 1990s, mechanisms in international law for war reparations overwhelmingly favoured property loss, foregone earnings, and bodily injury. The natural world was commonly treated as a mute, non-compensable victim of armed hostilities...
Understanding the farming business as a business Many farms still use long-standing structures that arose by habit, not strategy. Sole traders, informal partnerships and outdated partnership deeds are common. While once effective, such setups can cause major issues around succession, tax planning and involving the next generation. A corporate team can take a fresh, business-led view of the farm, asking: Who owns the land and other critical assets? Who manages daily operations? Who carries the risk and who enjoys the return? What is the enduring plan for succession? From this review, the team can confirm whether the current setup is fit for purpose or if an alternative — for example an updated partnership agreement, a company, a limited liability partnership, or a blended model — would better meet the family’s aims. Tax efficiency through joined-up advice Tax sits at the centre of most
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Elsewhere, a Chinese woman accused of washing bitcoin faces trial, while former Barclays chief Jes Staley plans to contest his prohibition imposed by the Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA). And the Serious Fraud Office ( SFO) will finish the year still resisting ENRC's claim for £240m in damages over the agency’s mishandled investigation into the mining group affair. Here, Law360 surveys these matters alongside other corporate crime cases to monitor in the year ahead. SRA v Dentons, round two The Solicitors Regulation Authority ( SRA) intends to contest findings that Dentons’ anti-money laundering shortcomings did not amount to professional misconduct, a ruling delivered in June 2025 instead. At an appeal listed for 29 January 2025 in the High Court, the legal regulator will seek to overturn the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal’s dismissal of its case alleging Dentons UK and Middle East LLP breached...
Chancellor Rachel Reeves used her first Mansion House address in the City in November 2024 to outline the government’s programme, cautioning that oversight had become excessively risk-averse. She said ministers would reweight this focus towards growth while preserving robust regulatory standards. That shift will ease certain financial rules. For instance, HM Treasury plans to scrap the Financial Conduct Authority’s certification regime, which defines conduct standards for employees who are not senior managers. The tax department has signalled that a more proportionate framework will replace it, cutting costs and spurring business expansion, though solicitors worry about a slide in corporate behaviour. In November 2024 the FCA pledged to back the government’s growth ambitions after receiving a note from Whitehall urging it to co-operate. The perceived tension with the FCA’s recent prioritisation of its Consumer Duty has regulatory lawyers questioning how the two aims can sit...
As the FCA zeroed in on the duty, which obliges companies, individuals and partnerships to deliver good outcomes for clients and customers, it ran a consultation until the end of October 2024 on streamlining detailed conduct rules and guidance. According to lawyers, the FCA signalled it wanted teams of staff and senior figures inside financial firms to challenge assumptions about the Consumer Duty, introduced in 2023, and to take ownership of how they comply. ' I frequently hear firms call the duty nebulous, and I concur,' said Sara Cody, contentious regulation counsel at Linklaters LLP. ' Working out what “good” actually looks like can be elusive, and the FCA’s position keeps developing. ' You should therefore be prepared to revisit whether your approach could be enhanced,' Cody continued. In her first Mansion House address in the City in November 2024,...
Hannah Gurga, the trade body’s director-general, told the House of Lords financial services regulation committee that the ABI supports the secondary objective placed on financial regulators, which requires them to promote competitiveness and growth. In force since August 2023, this objective, she said, has allowed an honest acknowledgement that Britain’s rule-making may lean too far towards risk rather than growth. She described the regulatory framework as akin to a coral reef: layer upon layer added in response to particular problems, each sensible when viewed alone, yet collectively generating cumulative complexity. Gurga characterised the current discussion about tinkering with the regulatory regime as constructive. But Britain must address......
Markos Markou, who acted as the sole director and chief executive of Financial Solutions ( Euro) Ltd, held off renewing the company's insurance until he knew the outcome of a Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA) visit that would affect the company's ability to operate, the Court of Appeal found. Although Financial Solutions did not in fact undertake regulated services without cover, Justice Geraldine Andrews concluded there was a clear and obvious risk that, unless trading stopped entirely, it would continue regulated business without PII, which Mr Markou knew was prohibited. On that footing, the court largely upheld the FCA’s appeal against the Upper Tribunal’s ( UT) earlier conclusion that he had not behaved recklessly in any respect. The judgment states that, viewed rationally against the evidence, nothing Mr Markou did came anywhere near addressing the danger of Financial Solutions trading during a period when he knew...
2024 burst into life, as the FCA signalled in February 2024 a significant policy shift to identify publicly, at an earlier stage, firms under enforcement inquiry, and to run swifter, more streamlined investigations, alongside other measures. The FCA’s notice of a consultation on enhancing transparency around enforcement work provoked public outcry from practitioners and, unusually, from politicians alike. Answering broad criticism, on 28 November 2024 the FCA then issued a second part to the consultation. This substantially reworked the proposals in substance, making clear that, if implemented in practice, only a very limited number of extra proactive announcements would be made when set against the existing current approach to publicity and announcements. The FCA has clearly pivoted to earlier intervention and to deploying tools short of formal enforcement probes. Many in practice observe what amounts to a clearing of the decks, as the FCA...
In this issue: UK, EU and international regulators and bodies Prudential requirements Operational resilience Financial crime and sanctions Complaints, compensation and claims management Investigations, enforcement and discipline Regulation of benchmarks and IBOR reform Regulation of capital markets Regulation of derivatives Banks and mutuals Sustainable finance and ESG Investment funds and asset management UK Mi FID II EU Mi FID II Consumer credit, mortgage and home finance Regulation of insurance FSMA regulated pensions activity Payment services and systems Fintech and cryptoassets Financial Services Enforcement Database Daily and weekly news alerts Intraday news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Financial Services Highlights 2024/2025 UK, EU and international regulators and bodies Council of the European Union agrees to...
The order requiring LCF leaders to hand over £180m for their part in the collapse of the so‑called ‘ Ponzi scheme’ draws a line under another phase of this protracted affair. Focus will now move to the SFO and its bid to bring prosecutions in the matter... On 13 December 2024, High Court judge Robert Miles ruled that former LCF chief executive Michael Thomson, together with other parties, was jointly responsible for tens of millions owed to investors after the fund’s 2019 downfall. This stemmed from his November 2024 judgment, which concluded Thomson had failed in his management duties and that the business had, in substance, been run as a Ponzi scheme, following a five‑month trial. The fund attracted capital from more than 11,000 investors but imploded leaving losses of £237m. In his November 2024 findings, Miles also determined that LCF was...
Although most of the Amending Regulations took effect on 5 December 2024, some reporting duties for further parts of the economy will not start until May 2025, thereby affording affected market actors (high value dealers, art market participants, letting agents and insolvency practitioners) more than six months to get ready for these adjustments, including putting in place appropriate policies and internal controls where required. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation ( OFSI) has already refreshed its general guidance on UK financial sanctions, and its Frequently Asked Questions, to mirror the Amending Regulations, with tailored sector guidance also issued for bodies that will fall within the broadened reporting scope due to take effect next year. Below, we explore in greater depth the changes that are expected to have the broadest practical implications for UK...
LC& F bosses must repay £180m over Ponzi scheme High Court judge Robert Miles has ruled that LC& F's chief executive, Michael Thomson, together with others involved in the firm that sold mini-bonds and ISA bonds, are jointly and severally liable for defrauding the company's investors after the business collapsed in 2019. Miles J said it was highly improbable the defendants could satisfy the claims, even for principal sums, observing that none has disclosed assets anywhere near the amounts owed. The action was brought by the fund's administrators following intervention by the Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA), after which LC& F collapsed. The civil proceedings began in February 2024 but have been beset by delays, including an adjournment when Thomson's lawyers demanded fees in advance and then left the courtroom. Administrators are seeking recoveries for 11,600 investors who placed £237m with LC& F before it...
The country’s Financial Supervisory Authority stated the buy-now, pay-later provider had breached core parts of Sweden’s AML rules within its risk assessment and customer due diligence processes in question, the authority said. Klarna’s assessment omitted any analysis of how the bank’s services might enable money laundering or the financing of terrorism, and it lacked instructions for performing due diligence on clients in all conceivable situations. ‘ The anti-money laundering regulations must be followed,’ said Daniel Barr, the FSA’s director-general......
In this issue: UK, EU and international regulators and bodies Regulated activities Accountability, culture and social governance Prudential requirements Financial stability Financial crime and sanctions Consumer protection Complaints, compensation and claims management Investigations, enforcement and discipline Regulation of capital markets Sustainable finance and ESG Banks and mutuals Consumer credit, mortgage and home finance Regulation of insurance Payments and payment systems Fintech and cryptoassets Financial Services Enforcement Database Daily and weekly news alerts Intraday news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary UK, EU and international regulators and bodies FCA will support growth but not light touch regulation Law360: On 10 December 2024, the Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA) confirmed it will not revive the pre‑2008 financial crisis ‘light touch’ approach. Instead, it...
The Brussels gathering of Eurogroup finance ministers was a notable moment. It was the first appearance by a UK Chancellor at the table since the country’s 2020 departure from the EU. Rachel Reeves took part to signal her administration’s intent to reset ties with the EU, particularly on economic and financial matters. Her presence was intended to demonstrate the new administration’s readiness to turn the page. She told journalists that today begins the groundwork to restore trust and repair relations after a bruising and combative few years between the UK and the European Union. Speaking after the session, she said this was a clear sign of the new UK government’s resolve to recalibrate the UK’s relationship with the European Union and of the importance she places on realising the economic potential of a shared future. Reeves stressed the need to...
UK developments BBP issues guidance on TNFD implementation for the commercial real estate sector The Better Buildings Partnership ( BBP) has released a comprehensive guide to help UK commercial real estate owners apply the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures ( TNFD) framework. The publication offers practical tools to put the TNFD into practice and to prepare well-founded nature-related disclosures. Introduces the key nature and biodiversity challenges facing the real estate industry. Sets out the Locate, Evaluate, Assess, Prepare ( LEAP) approach to steer organisational strategy and governance. Provides a step-by-step implementation pathway, with appendices on regulatory drivers and the impacts of commercial real estate on natural systems. See: LNB News 28/11/2024 66. Source: BBP Releases New Publication on TNFD for UK Commercial Real Estate......
According to the Association of British Insurers ( ABI), the share of women in senior management or board‑level posts at member firms edged slightly higher from 32% in 2022. The sector, long dominated by men, has grappled in recent years with reputational issues amid widespread claims of pervasive sexual harassment and bullying. Our latest figures indicate ongoing progress across the insurance and long‑term savings industry towards a more diverse, inclusive workforce, said Yvonne Braun, the ABI’s director of policy. The FTSE 350 of the UK’s......
Ashley Alder, the FCA’s chair, told Parliament’s Treasury Committee the regulator is working to strike a balance between consumer protection and its new secondary aim of boosting Britain’s global competitiveness. He said the FCA is “at something of a turning point”, as it seeks to stimulate growth while ensuring savers are shielded. Yet, he cautioned, this is not a return to pre‑crisis, light‑touch oversight—frankly, that approach ended badly, he told the cross‑bench panel. The FCA head added that standards for firms must remain high, though there is a very strong case for proportionality. Nikhil Rathi, the FCA’s chief executive, also told Parliament the regulator is committed to the government’s vision of improving growth in Britain......
The All- Party Parliamentary Group ( APPG) on Fair Banking The APPG on Fair Banking has asked the High Court to determine that the financial watchdog took an unfair course by declining to act on a damning 2021 review that criticised its oversight of a compensation scheme for customers who may have been mis-sold hedging products. Thomas Roe KC of 3 Hare Court, speaking for the members of Parliament, argued the FCA acted ‘irrationally’ in refusing to alter its position after John Swift KC of Monckton Chambers concluded in his report that the Financial Services Authority ( FSA), the FCA’s predecessor, lacked any objective reason for excluding thousands of customers. Roe contended that no reasonable public authority could respond to Mr Swift’s findings as the FCA has done—essentially by ignoring his conclusions and loudly reiterating its disagreement. He told the court it should quash the...
Arian Financial LLP v The Financial Conduct Authority [2024] UKUT 352 ( TCC) (‘ Arian Financial LLP’) What are the practical implications of this case? Professionals in financial services should study Arian Financial LLP, as the Tribunal provides a clear roadmap for applying DEPP’s Five- Step Framework when setting sanctions. A key takeaway is that Step 1 disgorgement ought to be reduced to take account of any commissions paid to brokers. Step 1 is qualitatively distinct from the punitive components at Steps 2–4; its sole function is to strip out gains so the firm does not profit from wrongdoing. On that basis, the Tribunal held that payments of commission to self-employed brokers are not part of the ‘financial benefit’ the firm itself obtained directly from the breach. That analysis aligns with FCA v Da Vinci Invest Ltd and others [2015] EWHC 2401 ( Da Vinci)....
Class representative Walter Merricks announced in a statement that he was glad to have secured a settlement after almost nine years of proceedings with Mastercard. He alleged that British shoppers paid inflated prices in shops due to excessive swipe charges levied by the credit card giant between 1992 and 2008. Merricks said he had agreed a settlement which he believes will provide meaningful compensation to class members who opt to come forward and take part in the distribution of damages. A Mastercard spokesperson said on 3 December 2024 the company was pleased to have, as quoted, 'reached an......
‘ Investors keep telling us they are deeply worried about the uncertainty this causes’, Charlie Nunn said at a conference, commenting on Britain’s landmark judgement that rendered commissions paid out by lenders to brokers without the customer’s consent unlawful and widened the scope of regulation established by the Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA)......
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When evaluating a general damages claim, the practitioner ought initially to refer to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG)...
This Practice Note This Practice Note reviews mechanisms used in settling litigation. A Tomlin order consists of a consent order paired with a schedule. It operates to stay proceedings on terms that have been agreed. The provisions contained in the schedule may remain confidential. This Practice Note describes the scope of confidentiality attaching to the schedule and sets out how it differs from a standard consent order. Sample wording for a Tomlin order is included, alongside links to precedents, as well as guidance on court approval. It also addresses varying, setting aside and enforcing a Tomlin order, including the considerations the court will take into account when handling applications for each. Further guidance is provided on interpreting and applying the relevant provisions of the CPR; however, some courts and divisions impose very specific requirements for both drafting and approval, and for approaching the schedule and confidentiality issues. Accordingly, you must consider the particular rules and court guide provisions in the forum where your claim is proceeding when drawing up the Tomlin order...
Date [ date ] Parties [ name of Landlord ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Landlord) [ name of Tenant ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Tenant) [ [ name of Guarantor ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Guarantor) ] [ [ name of Mortgagee ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Mortgagee) ] Definitions Within this Deed, the terms below shall be interpreted as follows: [ Annual Rent • the annual sum reserved under the Lease; ] [ Insurance Rent • the Tenant’s share of the Landlord’s costs of insuring the Property (as set out in the Lease); ] Lease • the lease of the Property dated [ date ], entered into between (1) [ the Landlord OR [ name ...
I, [ name ], of [ address ], solemnly and sincerely state that: [ Matters to be verified, set out in numbered paragraphs ] I make this solemn statement in good conscience, believing it to be true, and pursuant to the provisions of the Statutory Declarations Act 1835. DECLARED at [ details ] this [ day ] day of [ month and year ] Before me ................................................................................ [ signature of the person before whom the declaration is made ] A [ commissioner for oaths OR [ solicitor OR [ insert other qualification ] ] authorised to administer oaths ]...
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