On 24 April 2025, the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) published new guidance for companies on cooperation and enforcement in relation to corporate criminal offending (Guidance). The Guidance outlines the SFO’s key...more
Singapore and England & Wales have longstanding reputations as arbitration-friendly jurisdictions. Where parties have entered into an arbitration agreement but one party nonetheless commences court litigation over a claim...more
1/8/2025
/ Anti-Suit Injunctions ,
Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Contract Terms ,
Dispute Resolution ,
International Arbitration ,
Jurisdiction ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Singapore ,
Third-Party ,
UK
Headlines -
•The UK government has published its guidance on the new Failure to Prevent Fraud offence which will come into effect on 1 September 2025.
•Similar to the UK Bribery Act, the provisions introduced by the Economic...more
11/8/2024
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Due Diligence ,
Failure to Prevent ,
Financial Crimes ,
Fraud ,
Fraud Prevention ,
Risk Assessment ,
Risk Management ,
UK
The UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) published its strategy for 2024–2029 on 18 April 2024, outlining its ambitious plans to become the “pre-eminent specialist, innovative and collaborative agency” in the fight against serious...more
On 13 February 2024, Nick Ephgrave gave his inaugural public speech as the new Director of the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO). With a background in law enforcement, including as assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan...more
Headlines-
• The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (the “Act”) is part of a wide legislative package to prevent abuse of UK corporate structures and tackle economic crime and received Royal Assent on 26 October...more
10/30/2023
/ CEOs ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Criminal Liability ,
Failure to Prevent ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Markets ,
Fraud ,
Impact Assessments ,
Ministry of Justice ,
Senior Managers ,
Serious Fraud Office (SFO) ,
UK ,
UK Bribery Act
In recent weeks, the use of encrypted messaging applications for business purposes has returned to the spotlight. In July 2023, legal challenges surrounding the disclosure of messages on devices used by former Prime Minister...more
9/5/2023
/ Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) ,
Confidential Information ,
Data Recording ,
Disclosure ,
Encryption ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) ,
Instant Messaging Apps ,
Integrity Policies ,
Money Laundering ,
Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations ,
UK
The UK government has tabled an amendment to the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill so as to introduce a “failure to prevent” fraud offence. Details in the amended bill provide the greatest clarity to date of the...more
The Singapore High Court recently ruled that a party to a Singapore law-governed contract was justified in relying on a sanctions clause in the contract to refuse payment to the counterparty in an effort to avoid breaching...more
The UK government has proposed new registration requirements for foreign influence activities in the UK as part of its attempts to strengthen the resilience of the UK’s political system and democratic institutions against...more
On 13 July 2022, the National Economic Crime Centre, a multi-agency unit in the National Crime Agency (NCA), and the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, working in conjunction with law enforcement and financial...more
On 25 April 2022, in collaboration with the UK Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, the Financial Reporting Council (“FRC”) published a report on Modern Slavery Reporting Practices in the UK (the “Report”). ...more
As the world watches in horror as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to unfold, the UK, as well as its allies and partners, has introduced a number of sanctions and trade restrictions in response. In this Quarterly...more
4/28/2022
/ Bribery ,
Central Bank of Russia ,
Criminal Convictions ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Memorandum of Understanding ,
NCSC ,
Popular ,
Russia ,
Sanctions ,
Serious Fraud Office (SFO) ,
UK ,
Ukraine
At a time when sanctions are very much in the spotlight, the UK government has proposed amendments to its sanctions regime in order to introduce a ‘strict civil liability’ test for sanctions breaches....more
In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the UK government has brought forward legislation that aims to crack down on foreign owners laundering dirty money through UK property and make it easier for law enforcement...more
The UK government has widened the scope of its Russia sanctions regulations in anticipation of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. The amendments to the existing Russia sanctions regulations significantly broaden the definition of...more
In the final Quarterly Review of 2021, we reflect on a year that has seen the UK acclimatise to life outside of the EU, whilst, like the rest of the world, contending with the difficulties brought on by the global coronavirus...more
12/15/2021
/ Anti-Bribery ,
Bribery ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Credit Suisse ,
Deferred Prosecution Agreements ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Crimes ,
Fraud ,
Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) ,
Sanctions ,
Serious Fraud Office (SFO) ,
UK ,
UK Brexit
During the course of the last three months, there has been a significant focus on the activity of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO). The SFO has achieved its objectives in some instances; see, for example, our article below...more
This alert considers the recent updates and guidance published by the UK’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) regarding the UK’s National Security and Investment Act 2021 (the “Act”).
These...more
In our Quarterly Review, we bring you important UK developments relating to business crime, investigations, and regulatory enforcement from the last three months.
With this month marking half a year since the UK left the EU,...more
6/28/2021
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Autonomy ,
Bribery ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Services Act ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Ministry of Justice ,
Money Laundering ,
National Crime Agency (NCA) ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Sanctions ,
Serious Fraud Office (SFO) ,
UK ,
UK Brexit
In our Quarterly Review, we bring you important UK developments relating to business crime, investigations, and regulatory enforcement from the last three months.
As the UK gets used to life outside the EU and implements...more
3/29/2021
/ Asset Freeze ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Justice Act ,
EU ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Foreign Corporations ,
HMRC ,
Human Rights ,
Money Laundering ,
NCAs ,
Popular ,
Sanctions ,
Serious Fraud Office (SFO) ,
Travel Ban ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs)
In our Quarterly Review, we bring you important UK developments relating to business crime, investigations, and regulatory enforcement from the last three months. Please contact us if you would like to discuss any of these...more
12/15/2020
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Bribery ,
British Airways ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Deferred Prosecution Agreements ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
FSCS ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Life Sciences ,
Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) ,
Memorandum of Understanding ,
Modern Slavery Act ,
National Crime Agency (NCA) ,
Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) ,
Popular ,
Serious Fraud Office (SFO) ,
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) ,
Trafficking ,
UK ,
UK Bribery Act
In our Quarterly Review, we bring you important UK developments relating to business crime, investigations and regulatory enforcement from the last three months.
We commented last month that the scale of the impact of the...more
9/24/2020
/ Airbus ,
Bribery ,
Corruption ,
DPA ,
Enforcement ,
Espionage ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Fraud ,
Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime ,
HMRC ,
Investigations ,
Money Laundering ,
National Economic Crime Center (NECC) ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Sanctions ,
Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 (SAMLA) ,
Serious Fraud Office (SFO) ,
UK
Much of the world’s focus is on the COVID-19 pandemic, and rightfully so, but sanctions regulators also have their gazes fixed on another issue: the maritime industry. On May 14 2020, we saw the U.S. Departments of State and...more
8/7/2020
/ Charter ,
Coast Guard ,
Compliance ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Due Diligence ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Exports ,
Imports ,
Insurance Industry ,
Maritime Transport ,
New Guidance ,
Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Oil & Gas ,
Ports ,
Risk Assessment ,
Risk Management ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Sanction Violations ,
Shipping ,
U.S. Treasury ,
UK ,
Unions ,
Vessels
The Court of Appeal, in Lamesa Investments Ltd v Cynergy Bank Ltd [2020] EWCA Civ 281, has found that a party in an English law governed “Tier 2 Capital” subordinated facility agreement with contractual language addressing...more