The UK sanctions imposed as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have undoubtedly put intense pressure on businesses to review existing commercial arrangements and tighten sanctions compliance systems and controls. But...more
The long-awaited Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act received royal assent this morning, after having been fast tracked through the UK Parliament. Here are the key reforms of relevance to businesses....more
The long-awaited Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill (Bill) is being fast tracked through the UK Parliament. Here are the key reforms of relevance to businesses. ...more
We asked our global white collar crime team for their views on key challenges in 2022 for in house investigations teams and white collar crime lawyers, and how to manage the associated risks. Here are the top ten....more
The UK Government issued new guidance in July 2021 on how it considers companies and individuals should approach the question of disclosure of suspicious activity reports (SARs) in English civil litigation. The guidance...more
The UK Government has asked the Law Commission to review the law on corporate criminal liability and propose options for reform. Supporters of reform will use recent failures of the UK Serious Fraud Office to prosecute large...more
English lawyers and law students should be getting to grips with a whole new area of English law: Retained EU law. In this decision, the Court of Appeal explains all about Retained EU law and provides a roadmap for anyone...more
The UK Law Commission is considering whether corporate criminal liability law should be reformed and two weeks ago MPs proposed a new economic crime corporate offence to be included in the Financial Services Bill. What is the...more
The U.S., EU and the UK authorities have taken steps to make it much easier and quicker for criminal investigators to access electronic data stored abroad.
Digital evidence is required in many cases – around 85% of EU...more
Lonsdale v National Westminster Bank [2018] EWHC 1843 (QB) (18 July 2018) -
A bank was ordered to disclose, to a customer, suspicious activity reports (SARs) that the bank had sent to the National Crime Agency (NCA) at the...more
The English court refused permission for claimants in English civil proceedings to disclose documents and witness statements (provided by the defendants) to the FBI for a separate U.S. criminal investigation into the...more
Emails between an in-house counsel and an employee, gathering information to provide to external lawyers, were not protected by legal advice privilege. The decision illustrates (a) how difficult it will be for internal fact...more
Lonsdale v National Westminster Bank [2018] EWHC 1843 (QB) (18 July 2018) -
A bank was ordered to disclose, to a customer, suspicious activity reports (SARs) that the bank had sent to the National Crime Agency (NCA) at the...more
The EU continues to tighten its grip on money laundering.
Hot on the heels of the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (4MLD), which Member States had to implement by June last year, we now have the next instalment – the...more
R (on the application of AL) v Serious Fraud Office [2018] EWHC 856 (Admin) -
Let there be no confusion: first interview notes in internal investigations are rarely privileged. This is the message of the High Court in a...more
The Head of the Financial Crime Department at the UK Financial Conduct Authority (the FCA), Rob Gruppetta, gave a speech on "Using artificial intelligence to keep criminal funds out of the financial system" in December 2017....more
The law and practice relating to financial crime and investigations is evolving fast. In the past 18 months we have seen two new Acts aimed at combatting financial crime (including the creation of two new corporate criminal...more
The law and practice relating to financial crime and investigations is evolving fast. In the past 18 months we have seen two new Acts aimed at combatting financial crime (including the creation of two new corporate criminal...more
A new regime in the UK for punishing individuals or businesses that breach financial sanctions came into force on 1 April 2017.
In March 2016 the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) was formed, as part of...more
A recent settlement by the SFO with a UK company accused of bribery has resulted in the SFO being accused of suffering a “failure of nerve”. In a speech on 7 March 2017 Ben Morgan, Joint Head of Bribery and Corruption at the...more
There will soon be a new regime in place in the UK for punishing individuals or businesses that breach financial sanctions. In March 2016 the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) was formed, as part of the...more
The new UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), part of HM Treasury (HMT) opened on 31 March 2016. This may signal a shift towards more aggressive enforcement of the financial sanctions regime in the UK. ...more
In Capita (Banstead 2011) Ltd v RFIB Group Ltd [2015] EWCA Civ 1310 a seller of a company was only partially liable under an indemnity for losses incurred by the purchaser (on behalf of the company) as a result of negligently...more
This is a summary of the most interesting banking litigation and regulatory developments in 2015. The selection is necessarily subjective and draws from a wide range of cases and developments that are of direct relevance to...more
The Court of Justice of the European Union (Fourth Chamber) has ruled on jurisdiction in a prospectus liability claim, concerning index certificates issued by a UK bank, and purchased by an Austrian investor (consumer) via a...more