My colleague Ben Ticehurst, a Director in our UK Government Investigations and White Collar team, recently shared a timely insight on increased use by the Financial Conduct Authority of Account Freezing Orders (“AFrOs”) and Account Forfeiture Orders (“AFOs”) on our Anticorruption Blog.  He reports on the recent decision for the FCA to secure its first AFO, a tool used for asset recovery under Part 5 of Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, for £2 million against QPay Europe Limited.  Until recently , AFO and AFrO powers, granted by the Criminal Finances Act 2017, have mainly been used by the N ..read more

In March the Court of Appeal overturned an earlier High Court judgment and held that the application of Quincecare duty does not depend on the fact that the bank is instructed by an agent of the customer of the bank. In principle, the Quincecare duty could now arise where a non-corporate customer falls victim to an “authorised push payment” (APP) fraud. APP fraud happens when fraudsters deceive someone to make a payment under false pretences to a bank account held by the fraudster. Importantly in the context of the Quincecare duty, in APP fraud cases it is the bank’s customer that has instruct ..read more

Following successful trials, the Department of Work and Pensions (“DWP”) announced proposals last  Wednesday to introduce a “Stronger Nudge” regime, as part of a package of measures aimed at helping savers make better-informed decisions when it comes to accessing their pension savings, and to further protect them from scams. The Stronger Nudge Regime Under plans laid out in the DWP’s recent statement of policy intent, occupational pension schemes will be required to “nudge members” towards taking guidance from Pension Wise at the point at which they seek to access their pension. The Pens ..read more

The Work and Pensions Committee (“WPC”) has launched an investigation into pension scams in the UK and what more can be done to prevent them. This is the first part of a three-stage inquiry that will examine the impact of pension freedoms and protecting pension savers. Background It has been five years since the Government introduced pension freedoms in 2015, aimed at giving people aged over 55 more control over how and when they access their retirement savings. Chair of the WPC, Stephen Timms, recognised that, “more flexibility means more potential for the unscrupulous to take advantage and s ..read more

The Pensions Policy Institute (“Institute“) has said that a lack of comprehensive data on the number and scale of pensions scams, places limitations on the industry’s ability to effectively protect savers. According to the Institute, “victims of pension scams [are] losing more than £80,000 on average.” There is growing concern from the Institute that during the COVID-19 pandemic, scammers will take advantage of uncertain financial issues and volatile markets more so than ever. Background The Institute has said that the nature of pensions’ scams changed after 2015, when freedoms were ..read more

The FCA yesterday set out its business priorities for the years ahead, focussing in part on the unique challenges presented to the financial services industry by the Covid 19 pandemic. In this blog we look at three issues that the FCA’s Business Plan for 2020/21 pays special attention to, the regulatory response to the Covid-19 challenge, ongoing and future enforcement activites and long term savings/pensions issues. Covid-19 Throughout the pandemic, the FCA says that it will: protect the most vulnerable – ensuring that they can get the financial services and the help they need. tackle scams ..read more

On 28 February, former senior Barclays executives Roger Jenkins, Tom Kalaris, and Richard Boath were all acquitted of conspiracy to commit fraud contrary to section 1(1) of the Criminal Law Act 1997, and fraud by false misrepresentation, contrary to section 1 of the Fraud Act 2006.  The case is the latest in a series of high profile setbacks for the Serious Fraud Office (“SFO”), which failed to persuade a jury that the three had conspired with former chief executive John Varley and chief financial officer Chris Lucas to channel secret fees to Qatar in return for the Gulf state injecting ..read more

In February 2018, we reported here that the Court of Appeal had rejected a stockbrocker’s (Daiwa Capital Markets Europe Ltd (“Daiwa“)) appeal against the High Court’s decision that it owed a client (Singularis Holdings Limited (“Singularis“)) a Quincecare duty. The Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Singularis Holdings Ltd v Daiwa Capital Markets Europe Ltd [2019] UKSC 50 upheld the Court of Appeal’s decision. Singularis’ Quincecare claim was held not to have been defeated by illegality, as in the circumstances, the fraud of a sole shareholder of a company should not be attributed to the compan ..read more

In a recent speech given at the Cambridge Economic Crime Symposium, the Chairman of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Charles Randell, discussed the growing “epidemic” of fraud across the UK, and the need for collaboration in both the public and private sectors to fight more effectively against investment fraud. His concerns are justified based upon the latest Crime Survey of England and Wales. The survey shows a striking increase in fraud. It reports that there were over 3.8 million cases of fraud affecting individuals during the 2018/2019 period, while the private sector is losing £140 ..read more