A number of employment law changes will, or are expected to, come into force in April in the UK that employers should make note of. We have summarized them here for reference.
On 13 February 2024, the FCA issued a Final Notice to Floris Jakobus Huisamen, the former director and compliance officer of London Capital & Finance plc (LCF), fining him GBP 31,800 and banning him from working in financial services in relation to misconduct connected to financial promotions issued by LCF. This Final Notice follows the FCA’s previous censure of LCF in October 2023 for connected behaviour. In this alert we draw out the key takeaways that compliance officers should bear in mind from the FCA’s enforcement action.
On 13 February 2024, the FCA issued a Final Notice to Floris Jakobus Huisamen, the former director and compliance officer of London Capital & Finance plc (LCF), fining him GBP 31,800 and banning him from working in financial services in relation to misconduct connected to financial promotions issued by LCF. This Final Notice follows the FCA’s previous censure of LCF in October 2023 for connected behaviour. In this alert we draw out the key takeaways that compliance officers should bear in mind from the FCA’s enforcement action.
The UK AltNet market is ripe for consolidation. In this ‘Spotlight on AltNets,’ the Baker McKenzie team shares its tips for dealmakers interested in investing in AltNet assets.
We are pleased to share with you our annual briefing looking at financial services regulation and enforcement in 2024, “What does 2024 hold? Key upcoming developments and enforcement trends”.
With Brexit and the pandemic firmly in the rear-view mirror, and the geopolitical ebb-and-flow settling into a somewhat more stable – if preciously perched – pattern, regulators around the world have turned their attention to less reactive, more forward-looking actions. Our London Financial Institutions Regulatory and Enforcement experts explore the key developments and trends expected to dominate the regulatory landscape this year.
The UK government has published its long-awaited response to the AI White Paper, “A pro-innovation approach to AI regulation” published in March 2023. In this article, we distill the essential information you need to know.
On 29 January 2024, the UK’s Better Buildings Partnership launched a radically updated Green Lease Toolkit to inform and normalize green lease thinking between landlords and tenants, and to facilitate a more seamless incorporation of sustainability-focused provisions within commercial leases.
On 30 January 2024, the UK government announced its first equivalence decision in relation to the new overseas funds regime (OFR). The government has granted equivalence in respect of the pan-EEA UCITS regime, meaning that UCITS funds established in the EEA can be marketed to UK retail investors once the OFR becomes operational later this year. The FCA set out its proposals to operationalize the regime in December 2023.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal held that a single redundancy required some form of wider workforce consultation, and that this should be the norm for all individual redundancy exercises. Nevertheless, taking into account the facts of this case and long-established case law and rules on collective consultation, we consider that the main point is that consultation takes place with affected employee(s) at a time when it could make a difference.
The Home Office has announced that from 6 April 2024, the requirement to renew a Sponsor License after four years or to pay a renewal fee will be removed. This announcement is in line with the Home Office’s “August 2021 Sponsorship Roadmap”, which indicated the future reform of licensing renewal patterns for sponsored employment routes and the simplification of the Sponsor Migrant System. This is positive news as it reduces the burden on sponsors to maintain their license and removes the additional financial burden.