Til divorce do us part: advice for couples considering separation January 16, 2020 Christmas is meant to be a relaxing time, but for many people it’s also a period of stress, tension, and tribulations — especially for married couples. The financial burden of the holidays plus the pressure to have a “perfect Christmas” and the familiar strain of dealing with in-laws can lead to squabbles and even full-blown [...]
Burford Capital shares rise after US lawsuit against it is dropped January 7, 2020 Litigation funder Burford Capital’s share rose this morning after it said a US lawsuit against it had been dropped. Burford’s shares plunged over the summer after it was targeted by shortseller Muddy Waters which questioned its governance and accounting standards. Today, Burford said a securities lawsuit filed in August following its share price drop had [...]
Law firm tries to muscle in on £1bn forex cartel claim November 6, 2019 US claimant law firm Hausfeld is trying to muscle in on a £1bn group action against a raft of banks who were found to have rigged the foreign exchange markets. The Competition Appeals Tribunal (CAT) heard today that Hausfeld is set to bring a claim by the end of November. The CAT was sitting for [...]
Revolving door spins at London litigation funder Augusta Ventures October 27, 2019 Litigation funder Augusta Ventures has launched a new team to back consumer class actions, but has also shed more than 10 per cent of its London workforce in a recent round of cuts. The funder said that despite cutting eight staff in London, it has grown overall, adding 11 new employees in recent months. Its [...]
Four things we learned from Barclays results October 25, 2019 Barclays delivered a mixed set of results for the third quarter today, with strong performance in its controversial investment bank outweighed by a massive £1.4bn PPI claims hit. These are the top four takeaways from Barclays results today. Barclays was not expecting PPI ‘avalanche’ Barclays otherwise strong third quarter results were torpedoed by a whopping [...]
Let’s take a closer look at Neil Woodford’s dubious investment decisions October 23, 2019 The man with the Midas touch. That was how people saw Neil Woodford only a few short years ago. But things didn’t work out that well for King Midas in the end, and the same can be said for the former star manager, whose reputation is in tatters and whose investment empire now set to [...]
Rising Risk (Part II): Tech bubble take two October 9, 2019 In this second instalment of a two-part article, Sebastien Canderle says many tech start-ups are deploying a bagful of tricks to massage their numbers I have already laid out my thoughts here on CFA Institute Talk on the topic of the innovative financial engineering for which many buyout experts have become associated – for example, [...]
PPI costs account for over half of all conduct and litigation charges at UK banks September 16, 2019 Costs from the mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI) has accounted for more than half of all litigation and conduct charges faced by Britain’s biggest banks in recent years. Moody’s Investors Service has said that PPI was the largest single source of conduct and litigation charges from 2011 to the first half of 2019, as [...]
UK litigation funder Augusta raises $115m from US investment manager September 11, 2019 The UK’s largest litigation funder by case volume Augusta said today it had raised $115m (£93m) from an unnamed US investment manager. Managing director Louis Young said: “This development is a strong endorsement of the litigation funding industry and in particular, our market-leading experienced team”. Litigation funders back individual legal cases or portfolios of cases [...]
Burford Capital rebuffs news of possible ‘revenge porn’ law suit September 10, 2019 Litigation funder Burford Capital has hit back after reports it could be facing a private prosecution for an alleged breach of England’s “revenge porn” laws, in the latest development in an ongoing legal battle on both sides of the Atlantic. It was alleged in a High Court lawsuit last month that Burford executive Daniel Hall [...]