The Bona Vacantia Division (BVD), together with the Government Legal Department, has announced the reinstatement of the Bona Vacantia unclaimed estates list following a review of its publication. Publication of the list was suspended in July 2025 amid allegations of fraud within the probate system. The review concluded that there was no evidence linking the unclaimed estates list to fraudulent activity. However, BVD determined that it is prudent to limit the data provided to protect the integrity of the list while still providing adequate information to enable individuals to identify a family member. The reinstated list will display only the deceased's name, date of death, place of death and the relevant BVD case reference number. BVD will continue to monitor the publication of the list and may restrict or remove access without notice if further allegations of fraud or misuse arise.

The Bona Vacantia Division of the Government Legal Department has published revised Refer Bona Vacantia Land or Buildings (BVC2) and Apply to buy a Freehold Reversion (BVC4) guidelines. The revisions incorporate increases in the indicative charges relating to district valuer fees, applicable where a valuation is required in relation to land or buildings, or a freehold or leasehold reversion.

The government legal department's Bona Vacantia division has temporarily removed its unclaimed estates list from the gov.uk website, following a BBC investigation into an alleged multi-million-pound fraud. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has confirmed that this removal is linked to ongoing investigations into fraudulent activity involving the list, which included details of approximately 6,000 unclaimed estates in England and Wales. In addition, bank accounts belonging to several companies associated with the suspected fraud have been suspended. The MoJ has not specified when the list will be restored to public access.

Ownerless land or goods.

Dissolution If a Companies Act company (ie a company regulated by the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006) or any of its predecessors) is dissolved, all its property as at the moment of dissolution (together with all rights vested in, or held on trust for, but excluding property held on trust for another), passes to the Crown as bona vacantia (ie ownerless goods) under CA 2006, s 1012(1), unless the company’s registered office is located within either the Duchy of Cornwall or the Duchy of Lancaster, in which case the bona vacantia passes to that Duchy; but note that freehold land lying within the area of the Duchy of Cornwall vests in the Duke of Cornwall on dissolution regardless of where the company’s registered office may have been situated). NOTE: The Duchy of Cornwall is held by the Duke of Cornwall under a charter of 1337 (which confers the dukedom on the eldest son of the monarch and heir to the throne): it extends to the entire county of Cornwall. The Duchy of Lancaster (sometimes also

A form of loan. Typically, the investor should receive a regular coupon and the return of the principal originally lent when the bond matures.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has confirmed that the bond consolidated tape (CT) has gone live. Operated by ETS Connect UK, the CT offers a real-time source of prices and trading activity across the UK bond market. The UK is the first country outside North America to launch a consolidated tape for bonds. The service covers post-trade transparency data for bonds admitted to trading on UK venues. Exchange-traded notes (ETNs) and exchange-traded commodities (ETCs) are excluded. The FCA is also working to deliver a consolidated tape for equities.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is establishing a consolidated tape (CT) for bonds to collate market data, such as prices and trade volumes, in the UK bond market.  It has also been designing a tender process to appoint a CT provider (CTP).  In December 2024, the FCA published a concession notice (Concession Notice) stating that it would publish tender documents for the process to appoint a bond CTP by 31 January 2025. The FCA subsequently announced that there would be a delay to the publication of the tender documents to ensure firms had all necessary information to facilitate a robust tender process.  The FCA now confirms that the tender documents will be published by 7 March 2025. In view of the revised publication date, the FCA is cancelling the Concession Notice and will conduct the procurement of a bond CT under the Procurement Act 2023.

STOP PRESS: The UK’s prospectus regime is currently based on the EU Prospectus Regulation, which was retained in UK law after Brexit as the UK Prospectus Regulation. The UK has been reviewing its prospectus regime as part of wider efforts to reform the capital markets in the UK and enhance the attractiveness of the UK as a listing venue. As part of this, the UK Prospectus Regulation will be replaced by the Public Offers and Admission to Trading Regulations 2024 (the POATRs), with all detailed requirements relating to admission to trading to be covered in Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) admission rules. The FCA published its final rules (PS25/9) on 15 July 2025. The new rules are expected to take effect on 19 January 2026. For further information on the key elements of the new framework established by the POATRs which are relevant in the debt capital markets space, see Practice Note: The UK Prospectus Regulation—essentials [Archived] — Reform of the UK prospectus regime. Note that many of the steps below may be taken simultaneously with the other steps outlined. The actual time taken for

The requirement to deduct tax from UK source interest payments (ie withholding tax) is one of the key factors to be considered in the context of a bond issue in the UK. Where a tax deduction is required, this is: • at best, a cash flow disadvantage, ie the UK tax withheld can be set off against other UK or foreign tax due on the interest received, and • at worst, a permanent cost, ie the bondholder does not pay tax or pays less tax than the amount withheld on the interest received and cannot reclaim the tax withheld Clearly in either case a bondholder would rather receive the interest gross (ie without any deductions) and, as a result, whether deduction of tax is going to be required on a bond is a very important consideration for the issuer of the bond and the managers or arrangers who are seeking subscribers for the bond. In the context of retail bonds (ie where the bond is issued to consumer investors), market practice is certainly to expect bonds to pay

Where the court appoints a party or other person to find caution (a sum of money as security), this may be done by depositing cash, or by arranging a bond with an insurance company. It ensures that money is available in the event that the security is required. Note ‘caution’ is pronounced to rhyme with station. See also caution.

A measure of the risk associated with buying a bond produced by a rating agency eg Standard and Poors.