As financial services firms continue to feature highly on enforcement agendas around the world, you need a legal team that will not only handle your most sensitive matters, but also assess your risk for years to come.
CMS' specialist contentious regulatory team advises all types of financial services institutions and senior management on handling investigations and enquiries conducted by the FCA, PRA and overseas financial regulatory authorities as well as advising on the associated risks, including reputation and crisis management.
Our financial services enforcement specialists regularly advise clients on:
- Carrying out internal investigations and reviews in respect of the adequacy of firm’s systems and controls and governance arrangements
- Handling regulatory enforcement investigations for firms and senior management
- Making notifications to the regulators in accordance with regulatory obligations
- Responding to and managing s166 skilled person reviews and reports
- Carrying out past business and compliance reviews
- Preparing for and handling regulatory supervisory and thematic visits
- Implications and compliance with SMCR
- Advising on remediation and customer redress projects
- Assisting firms and senior management in contested approval or authorisations
Our work also spans the full range of governance, risk management, retail mis-selling, financial crime controls, client money, transaction reporting, outsourcing, claims and complaints handling, PPI, mortgages and arrears handling, TCF, vulnerable customers, consumer finance and market abuse.
Our team includes former FCA officials and secondees. To date, we have handled over 400 regulatory investigations for a wide range of banks (retail and investment), insurers and insurance intermediaries, payment service providers, fund managers, broker-dealers, investment advisers, listed companies and energy companies.
Our recent experience related to financial services enforcement includes:
- Acting for a mortgage lender in connection with an FCA investigation concerning alleged breaches of FCA Principles. CMS successfully concluded the matter with no regulatory enforcement action taken.
- Advising an AIM listed company on an FCA investigation into the timeliness of its market announcements.
- Advising the London Stock Exchange in bringing disciplinary proceedings against a nominated adviser (NOMAD) who had failed to meet the standards required of it.
- Acting for a bank to carry out a review of the treatment of SME customers by the restructuring unit in response to an s166 Skilled Person report.
- Acting for a large insurer in connection with an FCA investigation regarding its governance and oversight over its delegated authority arrangements in relation to the provision of insurance, the handling of claims and complaints and treatment of customers.
What clients say about us:
- CMS have “been very good to work with. They’re very responsive, very engaging and very interested in our business. They are proactive in contacting us rather than waiting for instructions."
- "They are extremely competent, easy to deal with and practical. They always give me sound and timely advice."
- Alison McHaffie’s “extensive experience in this area shines through - she is pragmatic and practical, takes a balanced view and is good at pointing out issues which are often difficult to navigate."
To find out more about other related services you can visit the Risk and Investigations expertise section.
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