The aim of the newsletter is to provide our clients and contacts across the financial services market with quarterly updates and insights on topical legal and regulatory issues.
Welcome to the first issue of our Legal and Regulatory Newsletter.
The aim of the newsletter is to provide our clients and contacts across the financial services market with quarterly updates and insights on topical legal and regulatory issues.
We’re focusing on issues which affect business models, strategies and operations, including the conduct, capital and governance these require. In this first edition, we cover: compliance with the Senior Managers & Certification Regime (“SMCR”), investigation-handling and a video survival guide prepared in collaboration with Insurtech UK on corporate finance and regulation in the InsurTech space.
If you have any queries on the issues covered or any feedback on the form or contents of the newsletter, please don’t hesitate to get in touch – we would be delighted to hear from you.
In every issue we will provide you with a collection of the latest news and developments from the sector. Carefully and reliably selected by our research and legal team, please use this excellent source of intel to stay updated and informed.
Lloyd’s has announced changes to its rules on delegated authority business, aiming to embrace technology and a more risk-based approach. The move is part of the wider ‘Future at Lloyd’s’ programme, which some regard as essential to Lloyd’s’ continued existence.
Last month the FCA published the FCA Enforcement Annual Performance Report for 2018/19. The Report presents a series of statistics regarding number, length and cost of cases (amongst other measures) within the FCA Enforcement Division. This article loos at the key ‘takeaways’ for firms looking to manage their ‘compliance risk’.
Complainants about the treatment of the general insurance market might, for instance, point to the Senior Managers & Certification Regime (SM&CR).
This article considers recent regulatory publications as to problems with outsourcing in the banking and GI industries, and in which industry are participants running the greater risks of regulatory enforcement in its approach to outsourcing.
Insurtech UK represents a significant opportunity for a growing number of insurtech companies. Setting out to champion the vast potential of the wider UK digital economy, and helping to provide a platform for publicity and networking, the alliance of over 50 insurtech start-ups and brands are supported as they grow and develop their businesses. As an approved legal partner, Browne Jacobson is delighted to be part of the insurtech journey.
How should companies assess whether LIBOR's disappearance might impact them, and what can companies do in response?
The relevance of the issue, development of the modern law, recent developments, and key take-aways.
Following an “explosion” in online promotions for high yield investment opportunities, the FCA says a “strong case” could be made for regulating how investment products are marketed to retail investors.
Logistics company Eddie Stobart has been fined £133,000, after a series of failures which took place whilst excavation work was carried out, exposing its staff to asbestos.
This article is the second in a series to help firms take a practical approach to complying with the ‘cross-cutting rules’ within the new ‘Consumer Duty’ (CD) framework. The article summarises what it seems the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is seeking to achieve from the applicable rules (section 2 below) and potential complications arising from legal considerations (section 3).
Claims arising from interest-only mortgages have been farmed in volume. Many such claims to date have sought to drive a narrative that interest-only mortgages are an inherently toxic product and brokers were negligent simply for suggesting them. Taylor is a helpful recalibration, focussing instead on what the monies raised by the mortgage product were being used for and whether the client understood the inherent risks.
Two directors of a construction company were fined after failing to ensure the safe removal of asbestos from a plot of land. On 14 and 15 November 2021, Directors Anthony Sumner and Neil Brown, of Waterbarn Limited were involved in the uncontrolled removal of asbestos material from a plot of land in Grasscroft, Oldham.
An engineering company in Tyne and Wear was fined £20,000 after a worker fractured his pelvis and suffered internal injuries after falling through a petrol station forecourt canopy, whilst he was replacing the guttering.
The Digital Services Act (the “DSA”) has today (27 October) been given the go-ahead by the EU Council and will enter into force by early 2024.
Investment zones have been introduced by the Conservative party to get the United Kingdom (UK) ‘working, building and growing’. They are to be designated sites which provide time-limited tax incentives, streamlined planning rules and wider support for local growth to encourage investment and accelerate the development of housing and infrastructure that the UK needs to drive economic growth. Processes and requirements that slow down development will be stripped back with the intention of attracting new investment.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have announced they will be carrying out a programme of inspections to primary and secondary school establishments from September 2022. The inspections will assess how schools are managing the risks from asbestos and meeting the Duty to Manage requirements, set out in Regulation 4 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012.
This article is the first in a series aimed to help firms get to grips on a practical basis with the ‘cross-cutting rules’ within the new ‘Consumer Duty’ framework.
The Government has announced a change to the categorisation of “small” businesses to reduce the amount of regulatory compliance (or “red tape”) required. Currently, SMEs (those with fewer than 250 employees) are exempt from certain regulations – such as the obligation to comply with gender pay reporting. With effect from 3 October, these exemptions will be widened to apply to businesses with fewer than 500 employees.
The use of social media platforms and applications can have overwhelmingly positive benefits for public bodies. However, regulatory action recently taken by the Information Commissioner, has highlighted various pitfalls that public bodies should seek to avoid if allowing staff to use social media as a communication tool.
Browne Jacobson’s corporate finance lawyers have advised leading private equity investor, Rcapital Partners LLP (Rcapital) on its majority stake acquisition of managing general agents (MGAs), UK General Insurance Ltd (UKG) and Precision Partnership Limited (PPL) alongside Montague Investment Group LLP who are taking a minority stake.
Whilst the weather conditions are predicted to be cooling down this week, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is asking employers and businesses to consider adapting to recurrent warmer weather conditions for the safety and benefit of their staff. It asks employers to ensure that extreme heat becomes a firm part of longer term risk management. Climate change in any event is something all businesses will need to consider as the warmer weather becomes more frequent - extreme heat is something that will impact employers on a day to day basis.
In this session, our speakers discussed the Fitness to Practise Regime and how we can help.
Bridget Tatham, a specialist defendant insurance lawyer at Browne Jacobson has been honoured at this year’s Birmingham Black Lawyer (BBL) Excellence Awards, having been named Lawyer of the Year. Bridget was also shortlisted for BBL’s Diversity Champion 2022.
The Building Safety Act 2022 received Royal Assent on 28 April 2022 (“Act”). The government has described the reforms introduced by the Act as “the biggest changes to building safety regulation in a generation”. For once the hype is justified.
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has released a report setting out the impact of new and changing regulations arising from the pandemic on small businesses across the UK.
We have created a summary of the recommendations and consistent themes which we are now starting to see becoming more embedded in public sector procurement practices.
On 10 June 2022 the Court of Appeal upheld an anti-suit injunction granted in favour of insurers by Mr Justice Jacobs in September 2021 restraining proceedings from being brought in Canada and enforcing the exclusive English jurisdiction clause in excess liability policies.
Browne Jacobson has announced its financial results for 2021-22 with revenues up 11 per cent year-on-year to £94m, up from £85m. It marks the 13th consecutive year of growth with a 59 per cent increase in revenues since 2015 (£59m).
As the Grenfell Inquiry continues, how have the Phase 1 recommendations changed the fire safety and building safety landscape?
