A balanced approach to the challenges of economic crime – Attorney General’s Office

“Attorney General, Dominic Grieve QC MP outlined steps taken to prosecute economic crime at the Cityforum round table. Originally given at City of London Guildhall. This is the text of the speech as drafted, which may differ slightly from the delivered version.”

Full speech

Attorney General’s Office, 21st January 2013

Source: www.gov.uk/ago

OFT warns significant change needed in current account market – The Guardian

Posted January 25th, 2013 in banking, competition, news by tracey

“More competition is needed among providers of current accounts, the Office of Fair Trading said on Friday after finding the major banks had increased their dominance in the £9bn market. The OFT said ‘significant further’ changes were required as it warned that the market was not ‘working well for consumers or the wider economy’but decided against a full referral to the Competition Commission. It will conduct another review in 2015.”

Full story

The Guardian, 25th January 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland v Lloyds Banking Group plc – WLR Daily

Posted January 24th, 2013 in banking, charities, contracts, covenants, law reports, Supreme Court, taxation by sally

Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland v Lloyds Banking Group plc [2013] UKSC 3; [2013] WLR (D) 19

“In construing a contractual provision, where there had been an unforeseeable and fundamental change in the legal context since the execution of the contract, the proper approach was to adopt a meaning which best gave effect to the parties’ original intentions and purposes. Where, therefore, a deed executed in 1997 provided for payment to be made by a banking group to a charitable foundation by reference to the group’s pre-tax profit or loss shown in the audited accounts, and a change in accounting practice subsequently required the group consolidated income statement to include, as a profit, a sum representing an unrealised gain on acquisition, the inclusion of such a sum was to be ignored for the purposes of calculating the amount payable to the foundation under the deed.”

WLR Daily, 23rd January 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Treasury presses supreme court to consider secret evidence in bank case – The Guardian

Posted January 23rd, 2013 in banking, closed material, evidence, Iran, news, sanctions, Supreme Court by sally

“The Treasury is urging the supreme court to consider secret evidence for the first time when it hears an appeal by an Iranian bank against sanctions imposed on it by the British government.”

Full story

The Guardian, 22nd January 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Defendants in Libor-fixing case may be named, court rules – The Guardian

Posted January 22nd, 2013 in anonymity, banking, interest, news, public interest, trials by sally

“More than 100 bankers have failed in a bid to prevent their names being revealed during preliminary hearings of a high court case centred on alleged rigging of the key London interbank offered rate (Libor) by Barclays staff.”

Full story

The Guardian, 21st January 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

RBS awaits hefty fines for Libor rigging – The Guardian

Posted January 21st, 2013 in banking, financial services ombudsman, fines, hedge funds, interest, news by sally

“Stephen Hester lays groundwork for penalties expected to be £500m or more.”

Full story

The Guardian, 20th January 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Property fraudsters sent to jail for up to seven years – BBC News

Posted January 18th, 2013 in banking, forgery, fraud, loans, news, sentencing by tracey

“Two men from London have been sent to jail after being found guilty of
defrauding two banks, Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Scotland, of £61.”

Full story

BBC News, 17th January 2013

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Confidence trickster who defrauded banks out of £750m faces jail – The Guardian

Posted January 17th, 2013 in banking, fraud, mortgages, news, recidivists, sentencing by sally

“Britain’s most successful serial confidence trickster, Achilleas Kallakis, faces up to 10 years in jail after being found guilty of duping banks out of more than £750m.”

Full story

The Guardian, 16th January 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Judge rejects claim couple were ‘ruined’ by Barclays – Daily Telegraph

Posted January 16th, 2013 in banking, contracts, defamation, negligence, news by sally

“A millionaire property developer and his wife who claimed they were brought to complete ruination by a simple banking error have lost their High Court claim for more than £3 million in damages.”

Full story

Daily Telegraph, 15th January 2013

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

OFT bars RBS debt collecting that puts homes at risk – Daily Telegaph

Posted January 11th, 2013 in banking, charging orders, debts, news by tracey

“Regulator imposes requirements on Royal Bank of Scotland’s use of charging orders – a way of collecting unsecured debts that could see borrowers lose their homes.”

Full story

Daily Telegraph, 11th January 2013

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Peer-to-peer lenders to be regulated – Daily Telegraph

Posted December 10th, 2012 in banking, financial regulation, loans, news by sally

“Peer-to-peer lenders such as Zopa, RateSetter and Funding Circle will be regulated by the new Financial Conduct Authority.”

Full story

Daily Telegraph, 7th December 2012

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

LIBOR administrators will be required to corroborate submissions under FSA proposals – OUT-LAW.com

Posted December 7th, 2012 in banking, consultations, financial regulation, interest, news by sally

“Clear, unambiguous rules on the administration of, and submitting to, the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) and other benchmarks will be included in the regulatory handbook, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has said.”

Full story

OUT-LAW.com, 6th December 2012

Source: www.out-law.com

FCA’s temporary product ban powers “approval by another name”, says expert – OUT-LAW.com

Posted December 5th, 2012 in banking, consumer protection, financial regulation, news by sally

“The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is consulting on a new power that will enable regulators to ban financial products without consultation in certain circumstances.”

Full story

OUT-LAW.com, 5th December 2012

Source: www.out-law.com

Government publishes consultation on regulation of LIBOR – HM Treasury

Posted November 28th, 2012 in banking, consultations, financial regulation, news by sally

“The Government launched its public consultation on the regulation of the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) today.”

Full story

HM Treasury, 28th November 2012

Source: www.hm-treasury.gov.uk

UBS fined £30m over rogue trader – The Guardian

Posted November 26th, 2012 in banking, financial regulation, fines, fraud, news, sentencing by sally

“UBS has been fined £30m by the UK’s Financial Services Authority – and could see its investment banking activities hampered by the Swiss regulator – after the former trader Kweku Adoboli was jailed for fraud.”

Full story

The Guardian, 26th November 2012

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

£1.4bn UBS rogue trader Kweku Adoboli jailed for 7 years for UK’s largest ever fraud – The Independent

Posted November 20th, 2012 in banking, false accounting, fraud, news, sentencing by sally

“A rogue trader who carried out the UK’s largest ever fraud, losing £1.4 billion in bad deals which nearly brought down a major international bank, was jailed for seven years today.”

Full story

The Independent, 20th November 2012

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Aftermath of panel reviews – Law Society’s Gazette

Posted November 1st, 2012 in banking, conveyancing, mortgages, news, solicitors by sally

“It is said that there are more questions on the application form to be a member of a lender’s conveyancing panel than there are to join MI5. Whether or not that is true, it is clear that if you want to do a good job for your homebuying clients, and act for lenders as well as your clients in any conveyancing transaction, chances are you will have to go through onerous vetting procedures now required by banks and building societies to be on their panels of approved solicitors.”

Full story

Law Society’s Gazette, 1st November 2012

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Bank of Scotland fined £4m over compensation blunders – The Guardian

Posted October 19th, 2012 in banking, compensation, financial regulation, fines, news by sally

“The Bank of Scotland has been fined £4m by the City regulator after a series of blunders meant it paid more than £20m in compensation to the wrong customers.”

Full story

The Guardian, 19th October 2012

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

LIBOR to be regulated as Government accepts Wheatley’s recommendations “in full” – OUT-LAW.com

Posted October 18th, 2012 in banking, bills, crime, financial regulation, interest, news by sally

“Administering and contributing to the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) will become a regulated activity, while criminal sanctions will be introduced for ‘misleading statements’ in relation to the benchmark, the Government has confirmed.”

Full story

OUT-LAW.com, 18th October 2012

Source: www.out-law.com

SFO pulls plug on Kaupthing investigation – The Independent

Posted October 16th, 2012 in banking, evidence, news, Serious Fraud Office by tracey

“The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) today called a halt to its high-profile three-year investigation into the UK’s links to a failed Icelandic bank.”

Full story

The Independent, 15th October 2012

Source: www.independent.co.uk