The Director of Strategy at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Richard Monks, recently spoke on the increasing appetite for Environmental Social Governance (ESG) focused financial products and building trust in sustainable investments.… Continue Reading
Last week, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) released correspondence in which the FCA sought reassurance from the FOS in relation to how it intends to handle complaints about financial firms during the COVID-19 pandemic.… Continue Reading
The FCA has just updated on the work that it had stopped or postponed in order to allow it to focus on the more urgent work that has been required of the regulator as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the resultant economic turmoil.… Continue Reading
The FCA has just released a statement reminding insurance firms of the guidance that it published back in June, which set out its expectations for insurers and insurance intermediaries to consider the value of their products in light of the exceptional circumstances arising from the pandemic.… Continue Reading
Last night the FCA announced that the Supreme Court had granted permission to appeal the High Court’s judgment in the business interruption (“BI”) insurance test case to all those who had applied for that permission.… Continue Reading
In a recent speech delivered at the City Financial Global event, Julia Hoggett (Director of Market Oversight at the FCA) set out the key risks created by operating in market conditions brought on by COVID-19, and the FCA’s expectation that markets remain clean “whatever the times and whatever the challenges“.… Continue Reading
The High Court has decided that a series of reports prepared by the accountants Deloitte LLP (“Deloitte”) for Sports Direct International PLC (“Sports Direct”) (now known as Frasers Group Ltd) in relation to a proposed tax structure were not prepared for the sole or dominant purpose of litigation, and were therefore not protected from disclosure … Continue Reading
The latest instalment of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (“FCA“) test case on business interruption (BI) insurance took place last Friday, with a “consequentials” hearing that dealt with the effect of the judgment, ‘leapfrog’ certificates and an application from a proposed new party.… Continue Reading
HM Treasury has responded to a letter from The Association of British Insurers (ABI), confirming the Government’s firm expectation that “grant funds intended to provide emergency support to businesses at this time of crisis are not to be deducted from business interruption insurance claims.” The ABI’s Letter Huw Edwards, Director General of the ABI, wrote … Continue Reading
The Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA“) has just responded to the recent High Court judgement in the Business Interruption (“BI”) test case with a “Dear CEO” letter, which sets out the steps insurers must take over the coming weeks and months.… Continue Reading
We know that the regulator has long been concerned about different (and lower) premiums been offered to new customers compared to loyal customers who may not shop around for their insurances (the so called “loyalty penalty”). The FCA says that its work in the area has identified 6 million policyholders paying high or very high … Continue Reading
The High Court ruled yesterday in favour of the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA“) on what the FCA describes as the “majority of the key issues” in its test case on insurance cover for business interruption (“BI“) losses incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent Government imposed lockdown. The decision means that insurers may now have … Continue Reading
In a “Dear CEO” letter published on 4 September 2020, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has set out its supervisory strategy for insurance intermediaries in personal and commercial lines, warning of “significant risks of potential harm” within the insurance sector.… Continue Reading
Earlier this week the FCA announced proposals to extend anti-money laundering reporting requirements in its financial crime controls to include virtual currency exchanges, such as all cryptoasset exchange providers and custodian wallet providers. The aim of the change is to strengthen AML defences.… Continue Reading
Earlier this month, an Upper Tribunal Judge ordered the FCA to pay a mortgage broker’s legal costs. The Judge deemed the FCA’s decision to pull the business’ trading permissions for not having insurance amid a wide mortgage fraud probe, “unreasonable”.… Continue Reading
Since 9 December 2019, the majority of FCA solo-regulated firms have been subject to the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR) including the Conduct Rules which set basic standards of good personal conduct against which the FCA can hold people to account. As such, the rules are enforceable by the FCA and are intended ‘to … Continue Reading
Earlier this week, the FCA warned that it would get tough on against insurers that it finds are acting unfairly in paying COVID-19 related insurance claims. This was in response to complaints from small business groups that insurers are deducting the costs of Government grants from insurance pay-outs.… Continue Reading
The Work and Pensions Committee (“WPC”) has launched an investigation into pension scams in the UK and what more can be done to prevent them. This is the first part of a three-stage inquiry that will examine the impact of pension freedoms and protecting pension savers.… Continue Reading
The FCA has been reviewing temporary measures that came into force in the insurance and premium finance markets on 18 May 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a statement released last week, the FCA announced its proposal to extend the series of temporary measures designed to help those policyholders, “who may be in temporary … Continue Reading
The FCA has been increasingly interested in cryptoassets as their use in the UK has grown. In October 2018, the FCA published a joint report alongside the Bank of England and the Government as part of the UK Domestic Taskforce on Cryptoassets. In March 2019, the FCA commenced research into consumer attitudes and awareness of … Continue Reading
Yesterday saw the start of the FCA’s high profile test Court case against insurers on behalf of those businesses who have suffered non-damage business interruption losses caused by the COVID -19 pandemic.… Continue Reading
In the recent decision of A v B and another [2020] EWHC 1491, the High Court decided that where an auditor is required to provide documents to a regulator, and the auditor’s client asserts privilege over such documents, it is for the auditor to decide whether the documents are in fact privileged and therefore should not … Continue Reading
Last week we reported on the FCA’s recent success at trial against pensions introducers Avacade and Alexandra Associates with the High Court deciding that Avacade and Alexandra had provided unregulated pensions advisory services to consumers.… Continue Reading
The FCA has just provided a further update on the progress of its High Court test case concerning business interruption (“BI”) insurance.… Continue Reading
