by Karolos Seeger, Alex Parker, Andrew Lee, Ceri Chave, and Ed Pearson
On 27 April 2017, the Criminal Finances Act 2017 (the “Act”) received Royal Assent. The Act has not yet come into force, but it is expected that this will take place by September 2017. It includes several provisions that will significantly affect the investigation and enforcement of corporate crime in the United Kingdom. The key features of the Act are: Continue reading
by Karolos Seeger and Andrew Lee
On 1 February 2017, the UK’s financial regulators, the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (“PRA”), published a policy statement outlining a number of reforms which are intended to improve the transparency, fairness and speed of their enforcement decision-making procedures. This follows a consultation paper in April 2016 setting out how the regulators proposed to implement HM Treasury’s recommendations from a review in 2014 and Andrew Green QC’s 2015 report into enforcement actions after the collapse of HBOS. Many of the changes only apply to the FCA’s enforcement process; the PRA will publish a guide to its enforcement process later this year. The substantive amendments affect only guidance issued by the FCA (the Enforcement Guide and the Decision Procedure and Penalties Policy), not binding FCA rules. The policy statement also indicates that there will be further consultation papers in relation to the Enforcement Guide and the FCA’s penalties policy. In general, the reforms relating to settlements and references to the Upper Tribunal will come into effect on 1 March 2017, while the remaining reforms are effective immediately. The key changes are summarized below. Continue reading
by Karolos Seeger, Alex Parker and Andrew Lee
In a judgment last week, the English High Court ruled that notes, transcripts and records of interviews prepared by lawyers during an internal investigation are not covered by legal advice privilege. While the decision may be appealed (RBS has indicated that it intends to seek permission to appeal), it potentially has important implications for companies and their lawyers when internal interviews and investigations are being conducted, even when external counsel are retained. Continue reading