In Cunningham and Resourceful Land Ltd and others (August 2018) the High Court upheld a drag along provision, confirming the validity of a shareholders’ sale of his shares in the company. Where several people invest in a company, they often put in place a shareholder’s agreement to regulate their relationship. Provided that such an agreement is drafted […]
We consider in this newsletter, the impact of Brexit on the financial services industry and provide practical steps for firms to take to mitigate their Brexit risk. We also examine the impact of Brexit on commercial contracts more generally as well as intellectual property. For more information or further guidance on Brexit and its impact […]
In the recent case of Signia Wealth(“Signia”) and Vector Trustees Ltd(“Vector”) [2018], the High Court of Justice ruled that Signia’s bad leaver provision did not breach the penalty doctrine, and was therefore enforceable. THE FACTS The case originated when Ms Dauriac, managing director of Signia, following an already deteriorated relationship with the founder of Signia, […]
Earlier this week, the UK’s Cryptoassets Taskforce (consisting of HM Treasury, the Financial Conduct Authority (the “FCA”) and the Bank of England) (the “Taskforce”) published its final report, providing an overview of cryptoassets and underlying technology as well as an assessment of the risks and benefits of such assets and the path forward for UK […]
The Privy Council recently upheld a decision that a hedge fund manager had not acted dishonestly or improperly when it failed to accurately describe to its client, the structure of its fund, and the way in which their client’s investments were being leveraged (Al Sadik v Investcor Bank [2018](“Investcorp”). FACTS In March 2018, at the […]
For 2019, ESMA’s focus will include supervisory convergence work in the area of Prospectus and Securitisation Regulation. The continued implementation of MiFID II and MiFIR will be a point of focus, whilst ESMA will also work on the third-country regime under MiFIR particularly in respect of equivalence assessments and concluding co-operation arrangements. Moreover, coping with […]
A project to enhance the electronic execution of documents came out of the Law Commission’s 13th Programme of Law Reform in January 2018. Subsequently, a consultation paper was published on 21 August 2018 and the Law Commission is requesting feedback on certain proposals in relation to the use of electronic signatures and deeds (the “Consultation”). […]
On 2 October 2018, the Financial Conduct Authority’s (“FCA”) Chair, Charles Randell, delivered a speech on the damaging cycle of deregulation, crisis and regulation (the “Speech”) at the annual Association for Financial Markets in Europe (“AFME”) conference, and ultimately warned against the dangers of deregulation. SUMMARY The FCA recognises how damaging the cycle of deregulation, crisis […]
On 1 November 2018, the European Securities and Markets Authority (“ESMA”) added three new questions and answers to its Q&A (the “Q&A”) on the Market Abuse Regulation (“MAR”). The purpose of the Q&A is to provide clarity on the practical application of MAR with the aim of promoting a common supervisory approach. The latest updates […]
The Investment Association (the “IA”) have recently published their annual asset management survey for 2017-2018 (the “Survey”), which is now in its sixteenth year. The survey captures asset management undertaken by members of the IA on behalf of domestic and overseas clients. The Survey has found that the total assets managed in the UK by […]