A round-up of financial services developments, including (among other things) FCA fines Nationwide £44m for inadequate anti-financial crime controls.

A round-up of financial services developments, including (among other things) FCA launches two consultations supporting an equity consolidated tape.

Local Government analysis: The Administrative Court upheld the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care’s (‘PSA’) appeal against the General Pharmaceutical Council’s (‘GPhC’) Fitness to Practise (‘FTP’) Committee’s (‘Committee’) decision to stay proceedings on the basis that a fundamental mistake of fact had occurred enabling the GPhC to resile from their position to close the case against a registrant. This case reinforces and reconfirms the mantra all too well known to defence professional discipline lawyers that the healthcare regulator’s role in protecting public safety, maintaining the public interest and upholding professional standards prevails over the ‘sub-standard service, stress and disappointment’ caused to registrants (especially when alternative options were available to the Committee). In addition, this case provides a comprehensive analysis of the legal principles and relevant case law surrounding stays of proceedings, abuse of process, other grounds for a stay, legitimate expectation, and the power to correct an error. Written by Nicola Wheater, associate at HCR Law.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has increasingly been focusing on issues around culture and wellbeing in the workplace. It has issued guidance on the risks of failing to protect and support colleagues in the workplace environment and conducted a thematic review of workplace culture. This Workplace culture—SRA action list brings together questions for law firms to ask themselves and suggested actions to take to improve their workplace culture, as identified and recommended by the SRA in its thematic review. For more information on wellbeing, see Practice Note: Protecting staff wellbeing in the workplace environment—law firms. Mental health and challenging stigma Questions to ask yourself Does your firm: • challenge stigma and raise awareness through initiatives such as wellbeing days? • train managers proactively to spot the signs of stress or burnout? • invite colleagues to train as mental health first aiders to support wellbeing? • hold regular one-to-one meetings to facilitate discussions about health and wellbeing? • use risk assessments to monitor risks including the work/clients you deal with? • promote psychological safety at work

WARNING These template replies to enquiries are intended only as a framework and starting point to assist the Seller in building their bespoke replies to enquiries. They are not a recommended, comprehensive or conclusive list and should not be used without careful consideration and bespoke amendment to suit the particular transaction. The replies given to enquiries before contract are representations made by the seller to the buyer and the buyer is entitled to rely on them in deciding whether or not to proceed with the transaction. It is imperative that they are correctly tailored to the specific matter and do not include any false or flippant statements. They should also not contain any generic statements, such as ‘Not to the Seller’s knowledge’, unless the Seller has made an effort to discover a more comprehensive answer to the enquiry. Such a response contains within it an implication that the Seller has itself made reasonable enquiries relation to the enquiry in question. You must stress to your client

This Practice Note outlines the scope of an employer’s common law duty to take reasonable care for the safety of employees, with specific reference to the duty to provide safe premises, plant, systems of work and competent staff. It also explains the impact of Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 (ERRA 2013) and the removal of civil liability for breach of most workplace health and safety regulations unless the relevant regulation expressly provides for it. In practice, all cases will generally need to be brought in negligence. To succeed therefore, the injured employee must show that the injury was reasonably foreseeable and that the common law standard of care was breached. Overriding duties At common law, an employer is under a duty to take reasonable care of the health and safety of its employees in all the circumstances of the case so as not to expose them to unnecessary risk of injury. This duty of care extends to the employee’s physical and mental health. For further guidance on occupational stress cases, see Practice

This Practice Note provides information on the UK bank recovery and resolution regime, including the Special Resolution Regime (SRR) under the Banking Act 2009 (BA 2009) and the related rules and guidance set out in the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) Rulebook, and in policy statements and other documents issued by the PRA, the Bank of England (BoE) and HM Treasury (HMT). UK bank recovery and resolution regime—introduction What are bank recovery and resolution? Bank recovery is a way to restore a firm’s business to a stable and sustainable condition, in the event of severe stress. Bank resolution is a way to manage the failure of a firm, with the aim of minimising the impact on depositors, the stability of the financial system and public finances. What is the bank recovery and resolution regime? The bank recovery and resolution regime is a set of measures which are intended to operate both proactively and reactively: • proactively by requiring credible plans to be made for the recovery and resolution of in-scope firms, and by requiring in-scope

What does this Practice Note cover? This Practice Note summarises the cure periods for each Event of Default set out in Section 5 of the ISDA Master Agreement in both bullet point format and in a table. Under an ISDA Master Agreement, if an Event of Default (as set out in Section 5(a) of the ISDA Master Agreement) occurs, often the Defaulting Party is given a period of time in which to 'cure' the default. This means that until that cure period has ended, the derivative transaction cannot be terminated early on the grounds of an Event of Default. The different Events of Default have differing cure periods which are set out below. In general, the cure periods are shorter under the 2002 ISDA Master Agreement. The reason for this is that the ISDA working group was concerned that in periods of market uncertainty, the cure periods under the 1992 ISDA Master Agreement were too long and would add to market uncertainty and stress. Each

This Practice Note provides guidance on making an application for a freezing injunction (also known as a Mareva injunction or freezing order). It discusses the procedure to be followed when making an application for any form of freezing injunction, whether it is a domestic freezing injunction, a worldwide freezing injunction (WFO) or a notification injunction. In this regard, it is important to stress that a freezing injunction is a type of interim injunction and therefore you should have an understanding of the basic procedure that applies to all interim injunctions, whether made on notice or without notice. For guidance, see the following Practice Notes: • Interim injunctions—on notice applications • Interim injunctions—without notice applications For guidance on the principles that the court will apply when making or responding to an application for a freezing injunction, see Practice Notes: Freezing injunctions—guiding principles, together with: • Applying for a freezing injunction—checklist • Responding to a freezing injunction—checklist This Practice Note considers the interpretation and application of the relevant provisions of the CPR. Depending on the court

As a result of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, investment funds have faced challenges both operationally and as a result of significantly increased volatility in global markets. The pandemic, in combination with high volatility and inherent valuation issues that it has triggered, has led to large market corrections and a deterioration of liquidity risks, which in turn has prompted stress in different parts of the financial system, including in some segments of the investment fund sector. These issues are summarised in a joint committee report on risks and vulnerabilities in the EU financial system, which was published by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and the other European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) in September 2020. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published guidance setting out its expectations regarding funds in light of coronavirus. While it acknowledges the significant challenges firms are facing in the current environment, it nevertheless expects them to continue to uphold the best interest of their investors at all times. ESMA and the Investment Association (IA) have also published guidance, and

STOP PRESS: The Financial Choice Act, which was passed in US House of Representatives on June 2017 seeks in large part to undo many of the restrictive provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, including the Volcker Rule. Following the passage of the Financial Choice Act, the US Treasury released a 150-page report (‘Treasury Report’) to President Donald J. Trump examining the United States’ financial regulatory system and detailing executive actions and regulatory changes that can be immediately undertaken to provide relief to firms. Below is a list of some of the ways in which to the Financial Choice Act would change the post Dodd-Frank Act regulatory structure: • providing relief for strongly capitalized, well managed financial institutions, including: ◦ providing an ‘off-ramp’ from the post-Dodd-Frank supervisory regime and Basel III capital and liquidity standards for banking organizations that choose to maintain high levels of capital ◦ permitting banking agencies to conduct stress tests (but not limit capital distributions) of a banking organization that has made a qualifying capital election • repealing

WARNING These template replies to enquiries are intended only as a framework and starting point to assist the Seller in building their replies to enquiries. They are not a recommended, comprehensive or conclusive list and should not be used without careful consideration and bespoke amendment to suit the particular transaction. The replies given to enquiries before contract are representations made by the seller to the buyer and the buyer is entitled to rely on them in deciding whether or not to proceed with the transaction. It is imperative that they are correctly tailored to the specific matter and do not include any false or flippant statements. They should also not contain any generic statements, such as ‘Not to the Seller’s knowledge’, unless the Seller has made an effort to discover a more comprehensive answer to the enquiry. Such a response contains within it an implication that the Seller has itself made reasonable enquiries relation to the enquiry in question. You must stress to your client