On 21 October, the Financial Services Bill (FSB) was introduced to Parliament.  Forming part of the Government’s wider Future Regulatory Framework (FRF) initiative, the FSB is the first step towards HM Government’s objective of maintaining the competitive position of the UK financial services industry and capitalising on new opportunities following the end of the Brexit transitional period. Read more

Herbert Smith Freehills LLP have published an article in Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law on the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)’s proposals for regulating climate-related disclosures and the litigation risks which may arise for issuers from such proposals. Read more

We are excited to launch the 2020 edition of our Global Bank Review, #disruption. While the banks sector has faced significant challenges before, the depth and breadth of Covid-19’s disruption has left banks in the position of having to brace for impact to their own businesses, whilst simultaneously demonstrating a change in culture, providing support to vulnerable customers, and supplying vital credit for regrowing our economies. Read more

The Information Commissioner’s Office in the UK (the “ICO”) last week published, for consultation, draft statutory guidance setting out how it will regulate and enforce data protection legislation in the UK. The consultation sets out all of the ICO’s key powers (including information notices, assessment notices, enforcement notices and penalty notices). Read more

On 9 October 2020, HM Treasury’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) published its latest Annual Review for the 2019-20 financial year. The publication marks the third report which OFSI have published and provides an overview of the work undertaken by OFSI in the financial year 2019-20 (April 2019 to March 2020). It also looks ahead to sanctions implementation in the future with a particular focus, this year, on how sanctions will be enforced at the end of the Brexit transition period. Points which may be of particular interest to readers are set out below. Read more

The cessation of the London Inter-bank Offered Rate (LIBOR) at the end of 2021 has long been an issue vexing the global financial services industry given the scale and geographic spread of exposures to the affected benchmarks across the currencies and terms in which it is published. As we reach what Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, has called the “endgame”, we thought it would be useful to publish an update on the status of this transition. In our LIBOR Transition Status Update – October 2020, we draw together key recent developments in this transition and summarise the current status in the most impacted product markets at this critical juncture. Read more

Two years have passed since the High Court decision in R (On The Application Of KBR Inc) v The Director of the Serious Fraud Office [2018] EWHC 2368 (Admin) (“KBR”) (see our summary of the decision here). Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard KBR’s appeal (“Appeal”) against that ruling, which had determined that the Serious Fraud Office (“SFO”) can require a foreign company to produce documents held overseas, pursuant to section 2(3) of the Criminal Justice Act 1987 (“CJA”). Lord Pannick QC represented KBR Inc and Sir James Eadie QC represented the SFO. Read more

Our global Fintech team looks ahead to what 2021 holds for the sector, including fundraising, partnerships, M&A, and regulatory developments. Read more