Contentious

Recent Articles

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  07.11.2023

  FCA provides warning on market sounding regime

  On 31 October 2023, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published Market Watch No. 75, sharing some observations about the market soundings procedure under the UK Market Abuse Regulation (UK MAR), and a reminder to market sounding recipients (MSRs) to independently assess whether they have inside information, even if the disclosing market participant (DMP) has not disclosed any inside information.  The market soundings regime is a well-established procedure, allowing issuers to disclose inside information to selected investors to determine interest in a transaction before it is announced....

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  12.10.2023

  FCA publishes consumer protection undertaking from e-money firm

  On 4 October 2023, the FCA published a Notice of Undertaking (the “Undertaking”) given under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (the “Act”). The Undertaking relates to the providing firm’s e-money terms and conditions (the “Contract”), but the terms to which it relates are of broader application. This article sets out summary details of the Undertaking and some thoughts as to what it means for regulated firms in respect of their consumer-facing terms and conditions.Background A principal objective of the Act is to regulate unfair terms in consumer contracts....

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  21.12.2022

  FCA outlines plans for the introduction of a regulatory gateway for firms which approve financial promotions

  Background Under section 21 of FSMA, currently any firm that is authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA), may approve a financial promotion by another unauthorised person. However, the government is concerned that the current framework is no longer sufficient and gives rise to risks. The FCA is particularly concerned with the promotion of high-risk investments and ‘Buy-Now Pay Later’ (BNPL) products. The FCA has seen examples of promotions that do not warn consumers of the risks, such as the taking on of debt, missed payments and other consequences. The FCA...

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  08.12.2022

  English High Court grants summary judgment in cryptoasset fraud claim

  Background Mr Jones was the victim of a large-scale cyber fraud perpetrated by a group of online cyber criminals located overseas. The fraudsters targeted individuals through a fake crypto investment company promising high returns and persuading clients to set up cryptocurrency accounts and to transfer cryptocurrency to this fake online trading platform. Having responded to an online advertisement, Mr Jones opened an account on the fake platform and invested a total of £480,206 purchasing Bitcoin from three exchanges between 22 January 2019 and 10 January 2020, which he transferred to the...

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  07.12.2022

  NFTs as property – Singapore and the UK

  Background facts The Claimant was the owner of an NFT known as the Bored Ape Yacht Club (“BAYC”) ID #2162 (“the Bored Ape NFT”) and regularly entered into loan transactions to borrow cryptocurrencies with the Bored Ape NFT as collateral on the platform NFTfi. As part of the loan agreement, the Claimant would specify, amongst other things, that (a) the lender shall not utilise the “foreclose” option of NFTfi’s Smart Program on the Bored Ape NFT without first granting the Claimant reasonable opportunities to make full repayment of the loan and retrieve the...

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  01.12.2022

  English High Court hands down first judgment on the new ‘crypto’ service gateway

  The dispute The case (LMN v Bitflyer Holdings Inc. and others [2022] EWHC 2954 (Comm)) was brought by a cryptocurrency exchange incorporated in England (LMN), which alleged that some two years ago, hackers obtained access to its systems and transferred millions of dollars-worth of cryptocurrency from it. Most of these assets were traced to a number of exchange addresses. To continue pursuing the trail, LMN needed information from the exchanges about the individuals behind the transactions and what had become of the crypto-assets. LMN therefore sought orders for disclosure of the following information...

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