26 June 2024
Market abuse letters - an increasingly used tool
Maintaining the integrity and cleanliness of the financial markets remains a key FCA priority and, indeed, is a statutory legal obligation on the regulator. Against that, however, is the fact that FCA’s track record in taking enforcement action against insider dealing and other forms of abusive behaviour is relatively poor. Since 2017 it has only achieved three criminal convictions for insider dealing, whilst its record for imposing civil fines on firms and individuals for breaches of the Market Abuse Regulation (“MAR”) is also unimpressive.
25 June 2024
Tackling the regulation of sexually explicit deepfakes
Artificial intelligence, and its use on social media, is making it continuously harder to distinguish between real and fake information online. Although fact checking is often required when considering written or spoken words, with the advent of so-called “deepfakes”, we now also need to fact check some of the images or videos we see online.
14 June 2024
FCA's Anti-Greenwashing Rule Takes Effect: What It Means for Compliance and ESG Accountability
The FCA’s long awaited anti-greenwashing rule came into force on 31 May 2024. This rule is part of the wider Sustainability Disclosure Requirements regime and reflects the FCA’s strong commitment to ESG and to supporting the Government’s commitment to achieving net zero by 2050.
10 June 2024
I am the victim of sextortion - what should I do?
Sextortion is a form of blackmail where victims receive threats that intimate images of them will be shared or distributed unless they meet the blackmailer’s demands to pay money (or other financial demands). Law enforcement agencies have reported an epidemic of such cases with global figures “more than doubling” in 2023. This reported increase is reflected in the number of clients seeking our advice on how to deal with this particularly distressing form of criminality.
28 May 2024
Reframing justice: the SFO's new strategic vision 2024-2029
The SFO's five-year strategy under Nick Ephgrave's leadership prioritises technological integration and global collaboration to combat serious crime
- Controlling and coercive behaviour
- Corporate crime
- Corporate manslaughter and health and safety
- Crime and justice
- Cyber crime
- Extradition and international crime
- Financial crime and financial regulatory enforcement
- Fraud
- Internal investigations
- Legal Updates
- Online Safety Regulation
- Police investigations
- Proceeds of Crime
- The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act
- Unexplained Wealth Orders
- Youth crime and justice