How the City watchdog cracked down on insider trading May 10, 2016 The financial services watchdog is determined to show that it is serious about cracking down on insider trading. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – as it is now known – secured two more convictions for its metaphorical trophy cabinet on Monday. Accountant Andrew Hind and former Deutsche Bank director Martyn Dodgson were found guilty on Monday [...]
City law firm urges more protection for self-reporting and incentivisation for whistleblowers ahead of anti-corruption summit May 10, 2016 A City law firm is today urging the government to introduce better protection for companies which confess their wrongdoings, along with cash incentives for whistleblowers, ahead of a major anti-corruption summit being hosted by Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday. Pinsent Masons is calling on governments to provide immunity from prosecution for businesses which self-report corruption in certain limited circumstances, while companies which [...]
It’s like Airbnb, but for lawyers: New online platform for legal market due to launch in the summer May 9, 2016 The legal eagles have soared into the sharing economy, as Lawyers On Demand has today announced that it is launching an online marketplace for legal services. Spoke will allow businesses looking to build their in-house teams or law firms looking for some extra help to hire lawyers who have some spare hours that are not currently being used for [...]
HMRC makes almost 1,500 demands in one year to lawyers and accountants to cough up client details May 9, 2016 The UK's tax authority issued just shy of 1,500 demands in the space of a year to lawyers and accountants for information on clients suspected of committing crimes, figures released today show. The research by City law firm RPC discovered the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) issued 1,468 production orders last year – and more than [...]
Tabernula case jury told no unanimous verdicts needed May 8, 2016 The jury members on a long-running insider trading case were told late last week that they need not reach their verdicts unanimously. The jury on the case, nicknamed Tabernula after the Financial Services Authority and Serious Organised Crime Agency operation which prompted it, has been told that it may give its verdicts with 11 to one or 10 [...]
Panama Papers: Here’s what you need to know ahead of the database release on Monday May 8, 2016 A database packed with information from the Panama Papers leak is due to be released tomorrow, providing authorities worldwide with potentially valuable leads for their investigations. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) announced that it would be launching the searchable database about a fortnight ago and wrote in a blog post that the database will contain information [...]
Libor latest: One person has donated £5,000 to Tom Hayes’ crowdfunding campaign May 5, 2016 Tom Hayes' crowdfunding campaign to raise money for his legal fees has started to gather pace, with one anonymous individual parting with £5,000 for the cause. The crowdfunding campaign, which is being hosted on Fundrazr and was set up to raise funds for Hayes' appeal to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), has now raised almost £10,000 since [...]
Sage Group transformation leads to revenue boost May 5, 2016 Sage Group's endeavours to makeover its business model are paying off, after the company reported a boost to revenue in its half-year results today. However, investors were less thrilled by what the announcement had to offer, with shares in the company trading down 3.2 per cent at 585p shortly after 12pm London time. [stockChart code="SGE" date="2016-05-05 [...]
Libor latest: Tom Hayes appoints new lawyer, and he’s making good progress on crowdfunding the legal fees May 4, 2016 Tom Hayes has instructed solicitor Karen Todner to lead the next stage in his appeal, it was announced today, as he turns to crowdfunding to raise his legal fees. Hayes, a former UBS and Citigroup trader, was convicted of offences related to manipulating the Yen-linked Libor last August. He was initially sentenced to 14 years in prison, [...]
EU votes through law designed to prevent Libor rigging April 28, 2016 The European parliament today voted to approve a new law designed to make the manipulation of benchmark rates, such as Libor and Euribor, much trickier to do. The legislation, which aims to make the rate setting process more transparent and less likely to be subject to conflict of interests, was voted through by 505 votes to 113. [...]