In a recent decision, the High Court has found that the terms of a Facility Agreement governed by English law allowed the borrower to withhold payment of interest instalments where there was a risk of secondary sanctions being imposed on the borrower under US law, notwithstanding that the Facility Agreement had no connection with the … Read more

A recent High Court decision has found that it was necessary to imply a term into an otherwise unworkable debt security trade agreement: Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (In Administration) v Exotix Partners LLP [2019] EWHC 2380 (Ch). The approach of the court towards implying terms into a contract is highly restrictive (see our litigation blog … Read more

In an important recent decision, the Court of Appeal has confirmed the test for rectifying a contractual document on the grounds of common mistake: FSHC Group Holdings Ltd v GLAS Trust Corporation Ltd [2019] EWCA Civ 1361.  In summary, the court confirmed that to establish a claim for rectification, a party must prove that the document failed … Read more

In a recent decision, the Commercial Court has upheld a financial institution’s decision to exercise its contractual right to close a customer’s accounts and terminate its relationship without notice, where the financial institution had a suspicion that its customer’s accounts were being used for money laundering purposes: N v The Royal Bank of Scotland plc … Read more

Applying a commercial approach to the fees payable under an engagement agreement, the Commercial Court recently decided in favour of the claimant investment bank in Macquarie Capital (Europe) Ltd v Nordsee Offshore MEG I GmbH [2019] EWHC 1655 (Comm). The engagement provided for the supply of financial advisory services including raising equity and debt finance … Read more

On a recent summary judgment application, the High Court has given effect to an anti set-off clause on standard Loan Market Association (“LMA“) terms to prevent the defendant from relying on equitable set-off, as a defence to claims to recover interest and principal under a loan agreement: AMC III Purple B.V. v Amethyst Radiotherapy Limited … Read more

The Commercial Court has granted summary judgment in favour of a bank defending a claim brought by a foreign exchange (“FX“) broker seeking to recover losses it suffered when the Swiss franc was de-pegged from the euro in 2015: CFH Clearing Limited v MLI [2019] EWHC 963 (Comm). The decision represents a robust approach by … Read more

The Court of Appeal has upheld the High Court’s decision that ‘negative interest’ is not payable by a Transferor of cash collateral under the standard form ISDA 1995 Credit Support Annex (“CSA“): The State of the Netherlands v Deutsche Bank AG [2019] EWCA Civ 771. The Court of Appeal’s confirmation of this point is useful, because the … Read more