In Lloyd v Google, the Supreme Court denied claims for mere 'loss of control' and ruled against mass class actions for data claims. Here, Philip Tansley and Matthew MacLachlan consider the court's reasoning and the broader implications for such claims. Case In its landmark judgment today, the Supreme Court unanimously held that a representative class action brought on behalf of approximately 4 ...
Drawing a cheque which is dishonoured due to insufficient funds will not be a criminal offence after 2 January 2022, when Federal Decree No. 14/2020 (the Decree) comes into effect. Here is a quick primer on the changes that the Decree will introduce. The highlight of the Decree is the decriminalisation of the act of drawing a cheque which is dishonoured due to insufficient funds ...
The financial sector has seen its fair share of discrimination cases and the trend continues. In Lacatus v Barclays Executive Services Limited the Employment Tribunal turned its mind to sexism. A female Analyst in the Rates Options Structured Trading Middle Office department brought a number of claims against the bank, including a sex discrimination and harassment claim centred around her line manager’s repeated use of the word “bird” to describe a woman ...
In this update, we’re looking at the hot topic of returning to the office post-pandemic. Q: What’s the direction of travel on working from home in financial services? While many industries have embraced hybrid working, financial services has generally been less enthusiastic about the idea of staff continuing to spend a significant proportion of their working time at home ...
Hot off the press, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy are today introducing a new Code of Practice, and a draft Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Bill ...
We are seeing renewed interest in these types of structures – particularly from fund managers who have not previously targeted Shariah investors - as (i) sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and HNW individuals from the Middle East and South East Asia diversify into alternative assets like private equity (PE), and (ii) traditional or "western" managers look to expand into the Shariah market by establishing bespoke feeder or parallel funds in Guernsey which offer a Shariah complian
Increased public awareness of data protection regulations has sparked a rise in claims for damages associated with distress caused by data breaches. Many claims are made in response to serious breaches that have caused financial loss or significant distress, however organisations are increasingly receiving significant financial claims for relatively minor breaches ...
To mark Charity Fraud Awareness Week on 21 October Shoosmiths hosted a webinar with Jonathan Taylor, head of charities and care at Innovation Broking, entitled ‘Charity fraud and cybercrime: prevention and cure’. New figures show charities reported £8.6 million of lost funds in the last financial year and more than 1,000 incidents of fraud to Action Fraud, but the true scale of fraud against charities is believed to be much higher ...
In February 2012, the FATF published the revised FATF Recommendations (also known as the Standards). The Standards continue to develop to detect and prevent new money laundering and terrorist-financing techniques impacting the international financial system, such as misuse of virtual assets and COVID-19 related threats ...
A recent Fifth Circuit ruling suggests a softening of the SEC’s obligation to return disgorgement awards directly to victims, says Elisha Kobre, a partner at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP. The issue is relevant because the Dodd-Frank Act created a specific fund to hold monetary sanctions collected by the SEC, including disgorgement amounts not directly distributed to victims or used in other specified ways, he explains. The U.S ...
Technological advancements coupled with a desire to reduce inefficiencies in the workplace, has led to an increase in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) by employers, typically in recruitment and performance management. Data protection considerations However, employers need to be aware of their data protection obligations and great care is needed when contemplating the use of AI processes to make decisions without human involvement ...
There is no doubt that the pandemic catapulted society and businesses into a new and different world, which saw old working practices replaced by new and which advanced the adoption of new technology at a rapid pace. However, one thing didn’t change at law firm Shoosmiths, and that was how Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations still firmly lay at the heart of the business strategy ...
On October 27, the Ministry of Science presented what will be the first National Artificial Intelligence Policy containing the strategic guidelines to be followed by the country over the next 10 years with the aim of empowering people in the use and development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and participating in the debate on their legal, ethical, social, and economic consequences ...
On 30 July 2021, the Financial Services Authority (“OJK”) has issued OJK Regulation No. 12/POJK.03/2021 on Commercial Banks (“POJK 12/2021”). POJK 12/2021 was issued to anticipate, amongst other things, a business development and banking trend including the development and innovation of information technology. One of the interesting topics of POJK 12/2021 is the introduction of provisions on digital banks ...
With the COP26 climate summit taking place in Glasgow this week, we thought it would be timely to look at the practical challenges facing businesses wishing to reduce their emissions and become sustainable in alignment with the government’s net zero strategy. Setting targets is crucial for companies with complexity across sectors, technologies and business structures ...
The lack of detail in the Budget speech on investment in renewable energy (nothing on hydrogen for example) was disappointing, and surprising to many given the timing of the Autumn Budget with COP26. However, the Comprehensive Spending Review did give a bit more detail. Whether it goes far enough or fast enough to meet ambitious targets is still up for debate ...
With the recent growth in technology, the storage of information online has become a common phenomenon. Though this method of storing information has proven to be very effective, the challenge of cyber breaches and data theft has also been on the rise. Interestingly, law firms have also become targets of cyber criminals that perpetrate these infractions ...
The use of drones in the world is increasing very rapidly and plays an important role in optimizing processes across a various range of industries: agriculture, delivery services, infrastructure, mapping, military and so on. These machines are very efficient, effective, and safe tools for quality, safety and savings ...
In her speech to the Principles for Responsible Investment and the London Stock Exchange Group, SEC Commissioner Allison Herren Lee made it clear that a climate change disclosure proposal is no longer a question of if, but when and provided some hints about what the proposal will look like. After remarking that “[c]limate change is . . ...
Last week, in the culmination of a process that began in 2016, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a Final Rule to update the Safeguards Rule promulgated under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act ...