<p>Filter Knowledge</p>

A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry. 

Amid widespread concern about the workings of the housing market in the UK, in February 2023 the Competition and Markets Authority (the "CMA") launched a consumer protection project into the rented housing sector, alongside a separate market study into housebuilding, discussed here.  Whilst acknowledging that some of the problems in the rented housing sector are not within its remit, it has stated its intention to ensure that ineffective competition or unfair business practices do not increase costs, limit choice or reduce quality for tenants. Following an initial 3 month period of engagement, the CMA has published an update report into the rental housing sector which summarises the feedback it has received from a wide variety of stakeholders, and identifies the four areas on which it intends to focus in the next stage of its project.

The FCA has issued its near final rules (PS23/13) on its new regime for firms seeking to approve financial promotions. This takes effect on 7 February 2024.

Imposing an obligation on another business to offer the best prices and terms that it offers to all other customers can often seem attractive – but such clauses are not always straightforward. In this briefing, we explore some of the difficulties and discuss the key points to consider for both customers and suppliers when negotiating such clauses.

The Competition and Markets Authority (the "CMA") has powers under the Enterprise Act 2002 to conduct inquiries into the workings of a market. The framework is a two-stage one: a preliminary market study (lasting for 12 months), followed by an in-depth market investigation in cases where the CMA considers there to be reasonable grounds to suspect that a feature (or combination of features) of a market in the UK prevents, restricts or distorts competition.

This article was first published in the Oct-Dec 2023 edition of Corporate Disputes Magazine

Commercial contracts often require goods or services to be provided over several years – so is it better to have a single global limitation of liability for all claims over the life of the contract? Or should you opt for multiple caps, where the limit effectively "resets" for each year of the contract or for each separate claim?

In our new Talking. Secondaries. series, we will seek to demystify the secondaries and synthetic secondaries markets and provide insights into the variety of tools available to GPs when looking to provide liquidity to their limited partners and their portfolios.

A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry. 

Welcome to the latest edition of our quarterly disputes newsletter, which covers key developments in the dispute resolution world over the last three months or so.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") has recently adopted new rules under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the “Advisers Act”) (together, the “New Rules”), based on a set of proposals originally set out in February 2022 (the “Original Proposals”).

In October 2022, we issued our briefing Strengthening the Financial Promotion Rules | Travers Smith, discussing the FCA's new rules on financial promotions, with a particular focus on the promotion of higher risk investments to retail investors. The FCA indicated at the time that such a category would include cryptoassets; however, at that point the legislation extending the FCA's remit to those financial promotions was not in force.

The Court of Appeal has recently determined an appeal in the FX CPO proceedings, against a first instance decision of the CAT.

Read and listen to "What’s Happening in Pensions", our regular news briefing covering topical pensions law developments.

This article was first published by the Pensions Expert.

The Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier ("CSSF") recently published its observations and recommendations on the implementation of sustainability-related provisions in the investment fund industry as part of its supervisory work in the area of sustainable finance.

The Upper Tribunal in GE Financial Investments Ltd v HMRC allowed the taxpayer’s appeal, holding that the treaty’s purpose of preventing double taxation was a key factor in the interpretation of who benefitted from its protections and that HMRC was wrong to suggest that a direct connection to the taxing state was required in addition to worldwide taxation. It upheld the First-tier Tribunal’s decision that the taxpayer did not carry on a business in the US, finding that it was open to the tribunal to come to that conclusion on the basis that the taxpayer was effectively a conduit.

The speed of developments in the world of sustainability reporting over the last 12 months has been unprecedented, and this trend shows no signs of abating. Over the last five weeks alone, two "global baseline" sustainability reporting standards have been adopted and endorsed for use in capital markets, twelve European Sustainability Reporting Standards have been finalised, and the UK has committed to develop "Sustainability Disclosure Standards", based on the international standards, by July 2024.

Following Brexit, the UK Government is keen to boost trade with countries outside the EU. Our interactive maps show the extent of the UK's global network of free trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties.

The Supreme Court held that the Quincecare duty does not extend to so-called "authorised push payment" (APP) fraud, whereby the victim is induced by fraudulent means to authorise their bank to send a payment to a bank account controlled by the fraudster. Pursuant to the first principles of banking law, it is a basic duty under a bank's contract with a customer to make payments from the credited account in compliance with the customer's instructions.