Legal News

Alongside the full coverage in the Financial Services news feed on 27 March 2024, subscribers may like to note the following further updates: European Commission: COMMUNICATION TO THE COMMISSION on the plan to adopt, with amendments, the Commission Delegated Regulation supplementing Regulation ( EU) 2015/760 of the European Parliament and of the Council, concerning regulatory technical standards specifying......

What are the practical implications of this case? The ruling bolsters the independence of national supervisory authorities in applying the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation ( Regulation ( EU) 2016/679), with a clear emphasis on safeguarding personal data effectively. By confirming their power to mandate deletion even without any prior request from data subjects, the Court of Justice signals that EU GDPR standards must be enforced rigorously, promoting stronger accountability and transparency in the digital sphere. The outcome may markedly affect businesses, which now face the prospect of losing processed datasets as well as incurring administrative fines for infringements. Data-driven offerings may even have to be withdrawn where the underlying datasets stem from unlawful processing and must therefore be erased. The possibility of personal data being removed is a material factor when evaluating the risk of EU GDPR...

Matthews v CGI IT UK Ltd [2024] EAT 38 On 25 March 2024, the Employment Appeal Tribunal held that Guy Matthews had not been victimised or unfairly dismissed. The tribunal found CGI IT UK Ltd had, after months of efforts to retain him, been left with virtually no alternative but to dismiss, as Matthews persistently alleged—without evidence—that a manager was undermining him. Judge Susan Walker, writing for the three-person panel, described this as a highly unusual matter in which a fair dismissal was upheld despite there being no written warning and no opportunity to appeal, noting the tribunal’s clear factual findings justified treating it as a rare case. Matthews joined CGI, an IT and business consulting services company, in May 2017. He later became a director and consulting expert within a team specialising in 5G technology, reporting to Steve Evans. Around May or June 2020, CGI...

Kaur v Sun Mark Ltd and Others [2024] EAT 41 What are the practical implications of this case? This decision confirms that a claim can be struck out after a liability finding where a fair remedies hearing is no longer feasible. Here, the claimant pursued £673,000, most of which related to her mental health, said to have been harmed by the respondents’ conduct and to affect her future capacity for work. Before the remedies hearing, she destroyed (or was untruthful about the existence of) a notebook and a mobile phone that might have been relevant to remedy. The employment tribunal found that her actions were ‘designed to frustrate the doing of justice’, making it unjust to allow the remedies stage to continue. The EAT dismissed the claimant’s submission that, because the destruction occurred after the liability judgment, it did not amount to ‘conduct of the...

The Case for Change The First REMA Consultation articulated why reform is needed and flagged the principal hurdles the future power system will face as it moves towards a renewables‑led mix. Those hurdles comprise: securing higher levels of investment, boosting system flexibility, sending clearer locational signals, preserving operability, and controlling price volatility. DESNZ determined that current market arrangements cannot realise its aims for a cost‑effective, decarbonised and secure electricity system by 2035, nor adequately deliver the government’s 2050 net zero ambitions. Following the First REMA Consultation, DESNZ produced an Options Assessment, setting out the REMA policy development pathway used to shortlist policy choices. At present, the options prioritise maintaining a unified wholesale market, catalysing additional investment in renewable generation, improving the capacity market framework, and bringing in zonal pricing. DESNZ’s challenge‑led method seeks to substantially narrow the remaining reform choices for...

Cobult UG v TAP Air Portugal SA, Case C-76/23, ECLI- EU- C-2024-253 What are the practical implications of this case? This ruling permits carriers that had not previously offered travel vouchers as an alternative to monetary compensation to introduce them, on condition that passengers are provided with clear, transparent details, in plain and accessible terms, about the alternative reimbursement options available, and that the passenger is aware of the choices and gives informed consent to accepting travel vouchers in place of a cash payment. It also establishes that a passenger’s completion of an online form fulfils the requirement for a ‘signed agreement’ to be obtained in order to refund the price of the ticket by way of travel vouchers. Informed consent is not achieved where reimbursement is linked to: ambiguous or incomplete...

Although decided less than two years ago, the case has already drawn hundreds of citations in federal district courts, by every circuit other than the US Courts of Appeals for the First and Federal Circuits, and by seven state supreme courts. Those references show that Sundance has had swift effects in federal courts on whether a party has forfeited the right to arbitrate, though its reach into other federal questions and state courts may emerge more gradually—potentially producing harmony in waiver analyses or divergence in waiver doctrine, depending on whether a motion to compel arbitration is pursued in state or federal court. A careful practitioner should not confine Sundance to waiver alone. It makes plain that courts must not assess arbitration agreements through any special lens. Ordinary principles of contract interpretation apply...

On 25 March 2024, the Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP) issued guidance setting out a clear timetable for large pension schemes to connect to the PDP. The project will roll out online portals enabling workers to view how much they have put aside for retirement. Master trust schemes with 20,000 or more members must be connected by 30 April 2025, the DWP confirmed. Other pension schemes face staged windows across 2025 and 2026, determined by the size of their saver base. On 26 March 2024, Nigel Peaple, director of policy and advocacy at the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association, said the guidance is a major step towards the day when everyone can see all their pensions—state, workplace and private—together in one place. The DWP has also set a final connection deadline of 31 October 2026. By then, every pension scheme should have...

The legend of Thermopylae, retold across films, books and podcasts, and still taught in history lessons worldwide, spotlights the feat of 300 Spartan fighters, who managed to resist thousands of Persians by sealing a narrow pass the invading army had to traverse. In arbitration, even when you act for a sophisticated business or a high net worth individual, your opponent may at times command a larger war chest. Just as the Spartans used terrain to their benefit, there are measures available both before and after proceedings begin to neutralise pressure or delay that a well-financed adversary might seek to engineer in the arbitration. This article distils strategies and procedures that anyone anticipating a dispute with a better-resourced party should bear in mind. Crafting the Arbitration Clause If the arbitration provision has yet to be drafted, the first way to counter superior resources is to frame an...

The Court of Appeal has dismissed bids by Tom Hayes, 44, a former trader at Citigroup and UBS, and ex- Barclays banker Carlo Palombo, to overturn their convictions for allegedly false interest-rate submissions during the 2008 financial crisis. Their cases were referred by the commission that investigates potential miscarriages of justice after a US appellate court cleared Hayes’ alleged conspirators of comparable offences, a ruling that left the UK as the only jurisdiction in the world where such conduct remains criminal. Hayes was convicted in 2015 of conspiring to rig the London interbank offered rate, known as Libor, and received an 11-year prison term. Palombo, 45, was found guilty in 2019 of manipulating Euribor, the euro counterpart to Libor, and was sentenced to four years. Libor and Euribor were daily benchmarks set by leading banks that reflected the cost at which a bank could...

See Q& A: Will a spouse or civil partner of the deceased inherit the ownership period regarding AIM portfolios which qualify for business property relief ( BPR)? Does BPR apply if the AIM shares pass to an interest in possession trust for the benefit of the surviving spouse/civil partner? Does BPR apply to ISAs holding AIM shares? Business property relief ( BPR) can be obtained in relation to 'relevant business property'......

Worldcoin, a crypto initiative backed by Open AI’s chief executive, Sam Altman, has been barred from gathering certain data in Portugal, only weeks after a comparable sanction in Spain. Portugal’s data protection authority said it had instructed the Worldcoin Foundation to implement, within 24 hours, a temporary restriction on the collection of biometric information. It must cease harvesting that category of data for 90 days while the regulator finalises its inquiry and delivers a definitive ruling, the Portuguese DPA said. The Worldcoin scheme lets individuals confirm they are human online by submitting to biometric capture via bespoke, orb-shaped iris scanners. In return for enrolling for a World ID, applicants are granted a one-off allocation of the cryptocurrency, also named Worldcoin. The urgent interim measure taken by the Portuguese DPA follows dozens of......

The Work and Pensions Committee ( WPC) The WPC has concluded that The Pensions Regulator’s ( TPR) primary objective of protecting the Pensions Protection Fund ( PPF) is now redundant, as the lifeboat fund holds a £12bn funding surplus. It says TPR should pivot to safeguarding both past and future benefits for members, helping ensure open schemes are not compelled to shut to new accruals. This was a central recommendation in a report on DB pensions, arising from a comprehensive inquiry launched in March 2023. Stephen Timms, who chairs the committee, said the PPF’s markedly stronger financial position offers welcome flexibility for government to prevent open schemes being constrained by excessively cautious regulatory limits, a development the committee applauds. TPR’s statutory objectives include reducing the likelihood that the PPF must pay compensation to members of a retirement scheme......

Engenda Group Ltd v Petroineos Manufacturing Scotland Ltd [2024] CSOH 36 What are the practical implications of this case? This decision offers a notable application of the Court of Appeal judgment in Sudlows v Global Switch—delivered only after the two adjudications had been determined—and, more generally, a reaffirmation of the principles governing serial adjudication. It illustrates the practical limits on re-running disputes across successive adjudications, even where later authorities might be relied upon. Most strikingly, the employer here, having failed to prove the scale of its unliquidated damages in the first reference, was not allowed to cure that deficiency in a second reference addressing a pay less notice for the identical sum by deploying expert material that had not been advanced previously. In short, what was not proved the first time could not be shored up the second time by drafting in experts after the...

As the regulator intensifies its oversight of online financial marketing to curb scams and limit consumer detriment, it stated on 26 March 2024 that several Big Tech platforms have updated their rules to permit financial adverts only from FCA‑approved and authorised firms. Google, Bing ( Microsoft), Meta, X/ Twitter and Tik Tok are among those that have implemented policy changes. On the same date, the FCA issued finalised guidance for firms using social media and finfluencers to engage consumers, warning that promotions lacking the required approvals could amount to a criminal offence. Recently, the watchdog reported that it had amended or removed more than 10,000 financial promotions in 2023, a 17% increase on the previous year. The FCA has repeatedly......

The latest funding will support the Ray Corollary Initiative ( RCI) in tackling the shortfall of diversity in the selection of ADR professionals, while also providing tools and research to aid the appointment of a wider pool of neutrals. RCI outlines a comprehensive plan to raise the number of people of colour and women serving as arbitrators and mediators—positions historically dominated by older white men. Named in honour of Charlotte Ray, a Howard University School of Law graduate in 1872 and the first Black woman admitted to the bar in the US, the RCI is advocating for arbitrator slates to be at least 30% diverse nationwide. The initiative launched in 2022......

See Q& A: Which breaches of the SRA Standards and Regulations are subject to fixed penalty fines? The Solicitors Regulation Authority ( SRA) is authorised to issue fixed penalty fines for defined infringements of the SRA Standards and Regulations ( Sta Rs). The infringements that attract a fixed penalty are detailed in rule 11.2 of the SRA Regulatory and Disciplinary Procedure Rules......

Disclosure in Lloyds Banking Group’s February annual report that the FCA is examining its AML controls places the lender on the long roll of major retail banks that have raised supervisory concerns in recent years. In the previous year, it emerged that Barclays Bank was the subject of an investigation by the regulator over a series of issues connected to its AML and know‑your‑customer frameworks. Several peers, including Banco Santander SA and HSBC Holdings plc, have incurred significant fines. Moreover, Nat West Bank held the unenviable distinction of being the first firm the FCA prosecuted for criminal breaches of the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds ( Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017, in December 2021. To date, no further prosecutions have been brought. This article will briefly outline the AML obligations incumbent on firms, consider why so many fall short of...

Antitrust Commission opens formal investigation against Zoetis regarding potential breach of Article 102 TFEU over novel pain drug for dogs The Commission has publicly revealed the opening of a formal probe to assess if Zoetis may have infringed Article 102 TFEU by hindering the entry and rollout of a rival, innovative biologic intended to treat chronic canine pain ( Case AT.40734). Zoetis is a global animal health group headquartered in the US. For context, in November 2020, Virbac, a French animal health specialist, also formally lodged a complaint against Zoetis. In October 2021, the Commission also conducted unannounced inspections at Zoetis’ premises in Belgium. Librela, from Zoetis, is the first and sole monoclonal antibody medicine approved in Europe for alleviating pain associated with osteoarthritis in dogs......

Investment and Securities Trust Ltd v HMRC [2024] UKFTT 230 ( TC) The dwelling at the heart of the option was owned by a director of the appellant, who was also a majority shareholder in the appellant’s parent. HMRC issued an SDLT assessment and closure notices, with the effect that ATED became payable in relation to the option, on the footing that the option was neither acquired nor held by the appellant exclusively for development and resale within a property development trade; consequently, reliefs from the 15% SDLT rate and ATED were not available. In their submissions, HMRC contended that the option was not obtained or retained exclusively for the prescribed purpose and emphasised the key distinction between an “exclusively” test and a “main purpose” test. HMRC maintained that further purposes for taking the option included: to give the appellant additional time to raise finance to...