News

Speed read: On 3 October 2019 the UK and US signed a new data sharing agreement. So far, its benefits to the fight against terrorism and child exploitation have been in the spotlight. The agreement, however, casts the net widely when defining ‘serious crime’. Offences of money laundering, fraud, tax evasion and market abuse are […]

ASSAD HENCHMEN’S RUSSIAN REFUGE How some of the top financers and human rights abusers of the Syrian regime are funnelling money out of Syria into Russia, and possibly beyond Global Witness estimates that prominent members of the powerful Makhlouf family, cousins of dictator Bashar al-Assad, own at least US$40 million worth of property across two […]

OFAC has sanctioned, pursuant to Executive Order 13818 (asset freeze and travel ban), members of a South African family, Ajay, Atul and Rajesh Gupta, and their business associate Salim Essa for engaging in “significant corruption”. Sigal Mandeleker, Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said that the family “leveraged its political connections to engage […]

SURPRISE SURPRISE, the financial system provides the first alleged crime in outer space. Captain kirk, “eat your heart out”!!! Some background There are five national or international space agencies involved in the ISS – from the US, Canada, Japan, Russia and several European countries – and a legal framework sets out that national law applies […]

The FCA has brought in new rules for certain open-ended funds investing in inherently illiquid assets, like property and real estate. The new rules will not apply to UCITS and other funds which already have restrictions in place. Instead these rules cover non-UCITS retail schemes (NURSs). The new rules mean that investors must be given clear […]

Improving the suitability of financial advice – Fact finding and reporting The following Speech by Debbie Gupta, Director of Life Insurance and Financial Advice Supervision at the FCA, delivered at Money Marketing Interactive Conference 2019, Harrogate addressed the thorny issue of Improving the suitability of financial advice – Fact finding and reporting The full speech […]

Complaint numbers for April – June 2019 have been published on the website of the Channel Islands Financial Ombudsman (CIFO). Brief headlines are given here, for further information please see the report. In the second quarter of 2019, CIFO received 106 complaints and opened 27 new case files – these are complaints that are within […]

The Channel Island Financial Ombudsman (CIFO) has recently been considering some complex issues involving pension-related complaints against Channel Islands pension providers where the complainant cites unacceptable delays in transferring a pension to a new pension provider. The complainant is usually the pension plan beneficiary and these, at least in part, relate to pensions in the […]