The Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC) in the US has published a proposal for New York legislation to assist the transition of financial contracts away from US dollar (USD) LIBOR:  Proposed Legislative Solution to Minimize Legal Uncertainty and Adverse Economic Impact Associated with LIBOR Transition (see the ARRC press release). The legislation is not yet … Read more

Herbert Smith Freehills LLP have published an article in Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law considering how the findings in Sharp v Blank [2019] EWHC 3078 (Ch) (also known as The Lloyds/HBOS litigation) may be of assistance in interpreting sections 90 and 90A of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Lloyds/HBOS is the only securities … Read more

In a recent decision which will be welcomed by defendants to funded group litigation, including financial institutions, the High Court has ordered security for costs against a commercial litigation funder in Rowe v Ingenious Media Holdings PLC [2020] EWHC 235 (Ch). The decision follows the court’s approach to security applications against litigation funders in the RBS Rights … Read more

Since 2015 there has been a series of judgments in which claimant customers have (ultimately unsuccessfully) sought to impose contractual and tortious duties on financial institutions relating to the institution’s conduct of the 2012 past business review into the alleged mis-selling of interest rate hedging products (the “PBR”). The latest decision from the High Court … Read more

With the continuing rise in the number of cases of novel coronavirus worldwide, in addition to obvious implications of the outbreak for individuals, businesses are likely to be exposed to a heightened risk of legal implications arising across their supply chain. In this briefing, Natasha Johnson, Robert Moore and Yasmin Mitha consider the scope for parties to rely on coronavirus as … Read more

The past week has been important for developments in LIBOR transition, particularly for the cash markets where progress has hitherto been less advanced than other markets. On 26 February 2020, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) and Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) hosted a joint conference on benchmark reform in London. One … Read more

A decision handed down by the Court of Appeal today has dismissed the suggestion that there is a fixed limit on a commercial litigation funder’s liability for the other side’s costs when a claim it has funded fails: Chapelgate Master Fund Opportunity Ltd v Money [2020] EWCA Civ 246. This is a significant decision and represents … Read more