McGuireWoods LLP (LexBlog United Kingdom)

99 results for McGuireWoods LLP (LexBlog United Kingdom)

  • DOJ Publishes FCPA Declination on Cross-Border Bribery Investigation

    Without fanfare, DOJ recently published a “declination and disgorgement letter,” the first FCPA declination published by the Department since August 2020. As disclosed in the letter, DOJ has declined to prosecute Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group Holdings Ltd., formerly Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc (“JLT”), “despite bribery committed by an employee and agents of the Company...

  • Taxpayer Protection Taskforce Aims to Recover £1 billion from Business

    This alert is a continuation from a March 3, 2021 post. On 3rd March 2021, UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a £100 million Taxpayer Protection Taskforce (Taskforce) to scrutinise claims made under Government financial business support schemes designed to help companies and individuals navigate their way through the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Janet...

  • FCA Consults on Use of New LIBOR Transition Powers

    On May 20, 2021, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a consultation on its proposed policy framework for exercising two of its new powers under the Benchmarks Regulation, as introduced by the UK Financial Services Act 2021 (UK BMR). These powers are designed to facilitate an orderly wind down of critical benchmarks such as...

  • ARRC Releases Supplemental Versions of its Recommended Hardwired Fallback Language

    On March 25, 2021, the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC) released supplemental recommendations for its hardwired fallback language for US dollar denominated syndicated and bilateral loans. The ARRC’s supplemental recommendations follow the certainty on fallback timings and economics afforded by the March 5, 2021 announcements by ICE Benchmark Administration, the UK Financial Conduct...

  • Mark the Date: Important Announcements by IBA, FCA and ISDA

    March 5, 2021 marks an important day in the LIBOR transition process as the ICE Benchmark Administration (IBA), UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and ISDA made important announcements on the cessation of LIBOR. In recent years the Bank of England and the FCA have made it clear that the lack of an active underlying market...

  • Budget Launches Taskforce to Uncover Exploitation of the UK Government’s COVID-19 Financial Rescue Schemes

    In today’s budget, UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a £100 million Taskforce to scrutinise claims made under business support schemes designed to help companies and workers navigate their way through the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Taxpayer Protection Taskforce will be examining claims made honestly but in error as well as those made...

  • UK HM Treasury Consults on Safe Harbor Rules for Legacy LIBOR Contracts

    On February 15, 2021, the UK Treasury published a consultation paper on potential legal ‘safe harbor’ rules for legacy LIBOR-referencing contracts which have been amended by the Financial Conduct Authority (the FCA) under the Financial Services Bill. Under the Financial Services Bill, as discussed in more detail in our earlier blog post, the FCA will...

  • With Fraud Against UK Businesses at Epidemic Levels, Businesses Need to Know How to Protect Themselves

    Fraud has reached epidemic levels in the UK and should be seen as a national security issue, says think tank the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in a paper published last week[1]. It is the crime to which UK citizens are most likely to fall victim[2]. Its impact on the private sector has consequences for...

  • LMA Publishes RFR Facility Documentation

    On January 28, 2021, the UK Loan Market Association (LMA) published exposure drafts of two multicurrency term and revolving facilities agreements which incorporate, among others, backward-looking compounded risk-free rates (the Exposure Drafts). In addition, the LMA published commentary on the Exposure Drafts, which aims to assist market participants in understanding the terms thereof. The...

  • The Brexit Deal; UK Crime Fighting with European Friends

    Since Brexit, the relationship between the European Union (EU) and the UK concerning law enforcement cooperation is now governed by the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (the Agreement). The UK Government state that the safety and security of British citizens is a top priority. It argues that the Agreement provides a comprehensive package of operational...

  • The Status of EU–UK Data Flows Following Brexit

    The end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December 2020 means the UK now has full autonomy over its data protection policies. As of 1 January 2021 the UK is recognised as a ‘third country’ under EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules. The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, which is an agreement in...

  • UK Working Group Publishes Paper on Credit Adjustment Spread Methodologies

    With the end of LIBOR drawing closer, the FCA, Bank of England and the Working Group on Sterling Risk-Free Reference Rates (the Working Group) are encouraging market participants to actively transition from referencing LIBOR rates in their loan agreements to risk-free rates (such as SONIA). In this respect, one important aspect that market participants need...

  • UK Loan Market Association Publishes New and Updated LIBOR Transition Documentation

    On November 23, 2020, the Loan Market Association (the “LMA”) announced the publication of several new and revised documents, with the purpose of helping market participants incorporate appropriate transition mechanisms into their loan documentation. 1. New exposure draft multicurrency term and revolving facilities agreement incorporating rate switch provisions (lookback with observation shift) (“

  • ICE Benchmark Administration Proposes Extension of Most U.S. Dollar LIBOR Tenors Through June 2023; Move is Supported by the UK Financial Conduct Authority

    On Monday, November 30, 2020, ICE Benchmark Administration (“IBA”), as administrator of LIBOR, announced that it will consult in early December 2020 on its plan to cease publication of the overnight and one-, three-, six- and 12-month U.S. Dollar LIBOR (“USD LIBOR”) settings immediately following the LIBOR publication on June 30, 2023.[1] This announcement represents...

  • ICE Benchmark Administration and UK FCA Announce LIBOR Endgame Consultations

    On November 18, 2020, the LIBOR administrator ICE Benchmark Administration (IBA) announced that they will consult on their intention to cease publication of GBP, EUR, CHF and JPY LIBOR settings across all tenors. Their announcement also indicated that IBA remain in talks with the FCA, other official sector bodies and panel banks regarding the future...

  • FCA Bans Three People From Working in Financial Services Industry, for Non-Financial Misconduct

    On 5 November, the Financial Conduct Authority, the UK’s financial services regulator, permanently banned three men convicted of non-financial criminal offences from ever working in the financial services industry, on the basis that they do not meet criteria defining a fit and proper person. For details about this latest development and implications for the industry,...

  • UK Financial Services Bill: Amendments to the Benchmarks Regulation to support LIBOR transition

    On October 21, 2020, the UK Government introduced the Financial Services Bill (the Bill) to Parliament. The Bill is seen as a vital step towards ensuring the UK’s continued status as a global finance hub in the post-Brexit world, and it also introduces the UK Government’s legislative fix for LIBOR-referencing contracts that face insurmountable barriers...

  • ARRC Announces Key Objectives for 2020

    On April 17, the ARRC released a set of key objectives for 2020 that the ARRC has set for itself to support the voluntary use of SOFR as an alternative to USD LIBOR. The ARRC stated that its objectives were developed keeping in mind the current expectation that LIBOR can no longer be guaranteed beyond...

  • Congress: Week in Review | June 6, 2019

    Disaster Aid Legislation Passes, Senate Continues to Process Nominations With the President in the United Kingdom for a state visit, the House and Senate returned to Washington on Monday after the weeklong Memorial Day recess. The House immediately passed a supplemental disaster aid bill, sending it to the President for his signature. The Senate continued...

  • Implications of Brexit on GDPR

    The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) imposes strict obligations upon organizations that process the “personal data” of European individuals. Failure to comply with GDPR can result in large fines. The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), in recent months, issued a number of fines of £500,000 on global businesses with household names, and such fines have...

  • Second Circuit Clarifies Limits of FCPA’s Extraterritorial Reach

    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit narrowed the reach of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA” or “the Act”) in ruling that the government cannot use aiding and abetting or conspiracy statutes to charge a defendant with violating the FCPA if the defendant is not in the category of persons directly covered...

  • Unexplained Wealth Orders

    Background For some time there has been a perception that the UK is a safe refuge for corrupt individuals seeking to conceal their unlawfully acquired assets. This has particularly been the case with regard to persons from countries outside the UK. The Government has sought to address this by amending the Proceeds of Crime Act...

  • Business as Usual: UK’s New Data Protection Bill and the GDPR

    The UK Government will introduce a new Data Protection Bill (the “Bill”) this year. As highlighted in the Queen’s speech back in June, the Government has committed to introduce the new law and, on Monday, published a Statement of Intent. The Bill will not change the position that the EU’s new data protection legislation –...

  • The Advance of UK Antitrust Class Actions

    Brussels-based antitrust partner Matthew Hall brings us an update on two ongoing UK antitrust class actions and one on the horizon. Antitrust class actions in the UK are beginning to take hold before the specialist Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), but progress is not all smooth.  Two cases have been filed and another is about to...

  • New UK Subject Access Code of Practice

    In June the ICO updated its Subject Access Code of Practice, which gives guidance to data controllers on how to respond to subject access requests from data subjects. The Code itself is not legally binding, but provides advice on good practice to promote compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA). With less than a year...

  • Massive Cyberattack Developing Worldwide

    Several cybersecurity firms and news outlets are reporting a new major cyberattack spreading across the globe. The attack, which is still developing and appears to have hit the UK first, is being described as a “global ransomware incident.” Some of the affected companies reportedly include British advertising firm WPP, Russian petroleum company Rosneft, and the...

  • UK Cyber- Security Breaches Survey

    The UK government launched its 5-year National Cyber Security Strategy in November 2016, investing a reported £1.9 billion to protect UK businesses from cyber-attacks and make the country the safest place to live and do business online. This strategy has included the opening of the National Cyber Security Centre (part of GCHQ) and the creation...

  • UK set to shake up Corruption and Money Laundering Enforcement

    The UK Government introduced the Criminal Finances Bill to Parliament today (13 October 2016), which will now start its passage through the parliamentary approval process before becoming law. The Government hopes that the Bill “will significantly improve the government’s ability to tackle money laundering and corruption, recover the proceeds of crime, and counter terrorist financing”, and...

  • UK Antitrust Class Actions Start to Get Going

    Brussels Antitrust/Competition partner (and English lawyer) Matthew Hall brings us an update on antitrust class actions filed under new procedures in the UK. Antitrust class actions in the UK are beginning to take hold before the specialist Competition Appeal Tribunal (the “CAT”).  The two filed to date show the possibilities at different ends of the...

  • Are You an Insider? Data Privacy Challenges Posed by New Insider List Requirements

    The EU’s Market Abuse Regulation (“MAR”) came into effect on July 3, 2016 replacing the EU’s Market Abuse Directive. Unlike the Directive, the MAR has direct effect in each EU member state, including the UK. The MAR, a civil market abuse regime, is intended to ensure the smooth functioning of the financial markets and enhance...

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