Contract interpretation and Braganza duties (R (TF Global Markets (UK) Ltd) v Financial Ombudsman Service)

Table of contents

• What are the practical implications of this case?
• What was the background?
• What did the court decide?
• Case details

Article summary

Commercial analysis: This decision considers the scope of a foreign exchange trading platform’s discretion to suspend customer accounts under various anti-abuse clauses in the relevant terms of business. The court upheld a challenge to a decision of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) by the claimant and concluded that the platform’s terms permitted the suspension of an account on only suspicion by the platform of market abuse, subject to a Braganza duty not to exercise that discretion arbitrarily, capriciously or unreasonably. Written by Richard Hanke, barrister, at 3VB.