Background -

In our previous DechertOnPoints, The Draft Financial Services Bill in the Contextof the Proposed New UK Financial Regulatory Structure and Draft UK Financial Services Bill and the New UK Financial Regulatory Structure, we discussed thenew UK financial regulatory structure and the details of the Financial Services Act 2012 (the “FS Act”). The FS Act received royal assent on 19 December 2012, and will come into force from 1 April 2013. This DechertOnPoint focuses on the criminal offences for misleading statements and misleading impressions, including the new offences relating to benchmarks, and the Financial Conduct Authority’s (“FCA”) new powers relating to misleading financial promotions.

Misleading Statements and Misleading Impressions -

The FS Act repeals section 397 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (“FSMA”), pursuant to which it is currently a criminal offence for a person to either:

make a statement, promise or forecast which he knows to be misleading, false or deceptive in a materialparticular, or dishonestly conceal any material facts (whether in connection with a statement, promise orforecast made by him or otherwise); or...