More than two years after it published a Discussion Paper on the UK's sustainability disclosure standards and investment labels (summarised here), the FCA has now published a Policy Statement setting out its final rules. Following the high-level structure set out in last year's Consultation Paper (summarised here), the regime comprises investment labels, consumer-facing disclosures, detailed product-level and entity-level disclosures, naming and marketing rules and a general anti-greenwashing rule. Read more

The FCA published today its long-awaited Policy Statement on SDR (PS23/16 "Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) and investment labels"). This is over a year following the consultation in October 2022 (see our blog here) The SDR Policy Statement is accompanied by a Guidance Consultation, GC23/2 "Guidance on the Anti-Greenwashing rule" (the "Guidance"), which follows feedback from the industry for further guidance on the expectation on firms in respect of the anti-greenwashing rule. The FCA is consulting on the Guidance and the consultation closes on 26 January 2024. Read more

In this post, we provide a round-up of key recent Russia sanctions developments in the UK, including new and amended general licences, guidance from the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation ("OFSI") and developments in respect of sanctions on gold and circumvention. Read more

In R. (on the application of Mikhail Fridman) v HM Treasury [2023] EWHC 2657 (Admin) the High Court dismissed all grounds of challenge raised by an individual designated under the sanctions regime. In doing so the court made comments on the proper role of judicial review and evidence in such proceedings, in keeping with the recent trend of insisting on procedural rigour in public law cases. Read more

Among the UK regulators' recent output relevant to Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud, two items warrant particular consideration:

• The  PSR's publication of the first set of APP fraud performance data.   This data includes percentages of reported APP fraud losses refunded by value and by volume, broken down by Payment Services Provider, as well as value and volume of APP fraud sent per £ million of transactions.
• The FCA's review of firms' fraud controls and complaints handling with a particular focus on APP fraud.

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On 13 October 2023, the UK FCA published its Final Notice to Equifax Ltd, the UK subsidiary of US company Equifax Inc, in relation to a major 2017 data breach which affected over 13.7 million UK consumers. The FCA determined that Equifax Ltd had breached Principles 3, 6 and 7 of its Principles  and imposed a fine of over £11m. The firm agreed to resolve the matter and so qualified for a 30% discount for early settlement. The FCA's Final Notice helps to explain the rationale behind the UK regulatory authorities developing and enhancing the operational resilience regime in 2019. It also highlights some particular pitfalls in managing intra-group outsourcings effectively. Read more

In this first edition, we take a look at enforcement issues around the world, from an EMEA focus on whistleblower protections, to significant economic crime reforms in the UK and Australia, and US and Asian enforcement trends driven by ongoing geo-political developments - there are plenty of developments to follow! Read more