Recent FCPA and anti-corruption news highlights the ever-growing importance of effective FCPA compliance programs – There has been a flurry of important Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and other anti-corruption enforcement news in recent days. All the trends we identified in recent alerts and Proskauer’s International Practice Guide[1] can be observed in this enforcement activity, […]

On 29 April 2010, the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) published issue 85 of Ombudsman News. Items of interest in issue 85 include: Case studies on banking, insurance and investment complaints from consumers living in rural communities. Q&A on the FOS’s new standard forms for payment protection insurance (PPI) complaints which were published in March 2010 […]

The volcanic eruption in Iceland has caused untold chaos to business in Europe and beyond, but there is guidance out there as to how to at least go some way to remedying circumstances. Marsh, the world’s leading insurance broker and risk adviser, is issuing business continuity, supply chain and insurance advice to organisations affected by […]

Anticipating a U.K. financial-services regulation that could require banks to record the mobile-phone conversations of their traders and sales personnel, British mobile operators are introducing services that allow corporate clients to record and retain communications on work-issued cellphones. Telecommunications giant Vodafone Group PLC on Thursday formally rolled out a recording service for clients in Western […]

RBS is being bombarded with more than 1,600 complaints a day from customers, official figures reveal. In total, RBS and its subsidiary high street bank NatWest received 302,371 complaints over six months last year, the Daily Mail reports. It is thought the vast majority of complaints concerned problems with current accounts, credit cards as well […]

The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) has published its “Corporate Governance Policy and Voting Guidelines for Investment Companies” (April 2010). The policy has been developed in cooperation with the Association of Investment Companies (AIC) and the guidelines deal with issues such as an effective chairman, Board balance, the Remuneration Committee and directors’ remuneration and […]

The Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (“AIFMD”) was proposed in April 2009, apparently as a response to the financial crisis. The stated objective is that “alternative investment fund managers” should register and disclose their activities to increase transparency, improve investor protection and minimise threats to the stability of the financial system. Accordingly, the AIFMD contains […]

Connecticut Attorney General to sue bank and money manager for custodian neglect over Madoff – Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is suing Westport National Bank and a money manager for $16.2 million dollars on behalf of investors in Bernard Madoff funds. The lawsuit has been filed in co-operation with Department of Banking Commissioner Howard F Pitkin. […]