Financial Services Regulation
Financial regulation expertise
Our financial services regulation team acts for both FCA authorised and unauthorised clients active in the financial services sector in respect of all aspects of contentious and non-contentious financial services matters.
We regularly act for wealth managers, financial advisers, lenders, credit brokers, payment service providers, insurers and insurance intermediaries. Our team includes specialists who focus on wealth management, consumer finance and insurance. We have a vast range of experience, including:
- Advising on the regulatory perimeter
- Securing FCA authorisation and varying permissions
- Advising on ongoing compliance obligations, capital requirements, SMCR and the conduct rules
- Advising on the financial promotions regime
- Drafting and reviewing consumer finance documentation
- Providing specialist advice on technology-driven consumer finance and payment services businesses
- Drafting and reviewing insurance policy wordings
- Drafting appointed representative agreements, TOBAs and agreements with key suppliers
- Resolving financial services disputes including complex and high-value consumer finance disputes and insurance coverage disputes, advising on FOS complaints and supporting clients through FCA investigations.
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Why choose us?
- Our financial services team includes lawyers recommended in the legal directories, reflecting the quality and breadth of expertise in the industry
- Our financial services regulation practice provides businesses with solutions to complex regulatory issues and has considerable experience in handling regulatory investigations and ensuring compliance on behalf of organisations and individuals
- Our lawyers will ensure that your agreements are compliant with all relevant legislation and, by carefully drafting your agreements, we will ensure that they are not only fair, clear and not misleading, but also practical and commercial, enabling you to be confident in relying on and enforcing your agreements
- Our specialist fintech and insurtech lawyers provide cutting edge advice on all aspects of a technology-driven consumer finance or insurance business utilising their experience in providing practical, commercial and tailored advice to startups, growth stage and established lenders and insurance intermediaries
- Our financial services team includes lawyers recommended in the legal directories, reflecting the quality and breadth of expertise in the industry. Our specialists work together to provide a seamless, efficient and cost-effective service. We have an in-depth understanding of the financial services sector and can give you advice on the latest advancements and innovations. Our lawyers provide cutting edge advice on all aspects of a technology-driven financial services businesses utilising their experience in providing practical, commercial and tailored advice to startups, growth stage and established clients in the sector
“The Financial Services Regulation team at Freeths has provided some great advice to us which has supported us internally to streamline some processes from both a commercial and compliance perspective. The advice has been friendly, timely and simple to understand.”
Emma Freeman
Chief Risk Officer | Inchcape
SDR & investment labels
The FCA has published its consultation on the Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (“SDR”) and investment labels for the UK market. The proposals would require UK asset managers making sustainability-related claims about their products to substantiate those claims.
Consumer duty
What should insurers and insurance intermediaries be doing now to implement the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA’s) new consumer duty?
In this video, our financial services specialists Daniel Seely and Daniel Meyer discuss the FCA’s new consumer duty with Edward Rushton at Lexis Nexis UK focusing on the key issues for implementation of the consumer duty in the insurance sector.
- Video
FCA's consumer duty
- Acting for a private equity backed firm in c.£50,000,000 worth of acquisitions in the UK insurance market, focussing on specialty insurance intermediaries and managing general agents
- Providing ongoing regulatory compliance support and assisting to streamline Inchcape’s processes, ensuring these sales processes are FCA-compliant and practical for the business
- Acting for a leading UK online provider of interest-free “buy now pay later” credit in relation to a £60,000,000 investment and funding round and providing ongoing regulatory advice
- Advising a lending platform provider on acting as lender of record in relation to a loan book of regulated mortgage contracts with a total value of around £4billion
- Advising a fintech start-up on payment services and its key agreements in respect of its new product aimed at revolutionising how employees are paid
- Advising a lender on its suite of consumer finance documentation
- Advising funeral plan providers on applying to the FCA to become authorised following the sector being brought within the FCA’s regulatory perimeter and advising on their key agreements and compliance processes
- Advising an online investment platform on financial promotions and the layout of its platform
- Advising a start-up equity investment platform on structuring its business and the platform, the design of the platform, its agreements with key suppliers, its agreements with clients and its ongoing regulatory obligations
- Acting for a Trustee in Bankruptcy and successfully obtaining a declaration that a charge secured on a bankrupt’s matrimonial home was unenforceable under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000
- Acting in relation to a cross border recovery action in respect of a multimillion pound Ponzi scheme in which investors funds had been misappropriated and the identity of the fraudulent parties was initially unclear
- Advising credit brokers and insurance intermediaries on their consumer documentation and sales processes
- Advising a building society, credit brokers, insurance intermediaries and personal pension providers on SMCR and regulatory references
- Advising an over the counter cryptocurrency derivatives margin calculation agent on the EU regulations relating to margin calculation and EU risk mitigation requirements for over the counter derivatives that are not cleared by a central clearing house
- Advising cryptocurrency businesses on regulatory issues relating to providing cryptocurrency services in the UK and the relevant anti-money laundering requirements
- Acting for financial adviser subject to FCA investigation in respect of pension mis-selling allegations arising out of the collapse of the British Steel Pension Scheme
- Advising a mortgage and insurance adviser and broker on its agreements with key suppliers and structure of its business
- Acting for a regional fund lending to start-ups including completing a review of the fund’s pre-contract information, regulated credit agreements and post-contractual documents
- Advising a UK tyre manufacturer on its lending activities and commercial processes to ensure that these were exempt from FCA regulation
- Advising a number of clients in respect of business interruption insurance claims for COVID-19 related losses
- Advising on the special administration process in relation to a SIPP provider facing a number of mis-selling claims (of an approximate value of £8million) which arose following the decision in Berkeley Burke SIPP Administration Ltd v Financial Ombudsman Service Limited
- Advising an insurtech start-up on its data driven home insurance product, including securing FCA authorisation, advising on an ongoing basis on a number of legal issues and advising on and drafting its key agreements with its carriers and appointed representatives
- Advising a mortgage broker on an FCA investigation
- Acting for a credit broker and insurance intermediary in relation to FOS complaints and litigation in relation to mis-selling claims
- Advising a multi-national retail chain on payment services and e-money requirements and utilising the limited network exemption
- Advising a client on a multi-million pound claim involving several million pounds worth of alleged consumer loans provided by an unauthorised lender
Meet our team
Adam Edwards
Partner & Head of Financial Services
Contact us today
Whatever your legal needs, our wide ranging expertise is here to support you and your business, so let’s start your legal journey today and get you in touch with the right lawyer to get you started.
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