Our contentious financial services practice comprises a dedicated team of lawyers from across Europe and Asia who advise investment and retail banks, insurers, listed corporates, fund managers, exchanges, and other financial institutions on regulatory investigations and enforcement. We work with our clients to help them understand problems that arise and their consequences, and to deal with the issues arising, including handling regulatory aspects. This frequently involves guiding clients through regulators investigative and disciplinary processes.

Most of these cases have been resolved without public action. Our extensive experience in undertaking and managing major regulatory investigations means that we advise on many of the major high-profile cases, including, for example, acting on approximately 45 Financial Services Authority (FSA) inquiries over the last 12 months in the UK (of which about 16 for investment banking clients, 3 for asset managers, 12 for retail clients, 5 for corporates and 10 for insurance companies) and others by the Department of Trade and Industry; the London Stock Exchange; the London Metal Exchange; the Serious Fraud Office; Virt-x; the Paris Bourse; the Japanese Financial Supervisory Agency; and the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission. We also advise corporates on investigations and disciplinary actions by the UK Listing Authority.

We also advise on issues concerning retail financial services businesses, in particular handling consumer complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), dealing with mass mis-selling claims and advising on FSA regulatory investigations and disciplinary proceedings.

Recent work includes acting for:

  • the Bank of England in their successful defence of the proceedings brought by the liquidators of BCCI;
  • Legal & General in Financial Services and Markets Tribunal proceedings against the FSA;
  • Loans.co.uk, a broker of personal loans, on an enforcement action brought against it by the FSA in relation to its sale of PPI products as a result of the FSAs thematic review of providers;
  • a leading international investment bank on a series of inter-related proceedings brought in a number of jurisdictions arising out of the banks investment in a Central European country;
  • a major German investment bank in a dispute arising out of an alleged violation of its duties as a fund manager; and
  • investment banks and individuals in Hong Kong on investigations by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission over alleged insider dealing and regulatory misconduct.

For more information please contact Emma Owens, business development manager.

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