The Court of Appeal handed down its latest judgment on broker secret commissions in Medsted Associates Ltd v Canaccord Genuity Wealth (International) Ltd [2019] EWCA Civ 83. The appellant (‘Medsted’) was a broker who introduced potential investors in contracts for difference to financial institutions such as the respondent (‘Canaccord’). The Court of Appeal upheld the first […]

On 7 March 2019, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy launched a call for evidence on its review of the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (“the Regulations”). The call for evidence acknowledges that the Regulations a largely derived from the European Consumer Rights Directive and are subject to maximum […]

On 5 March 2019, the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) published its final rules on a price cap for the rent-to-own (“RTO”) market (PS19/6). The rules follow a consultation launched in November 2018 (CP18/35) and introduce a price cap for firms offering household goods on hire-purchase and/or conditional sale. The price cap rules: Limit the total […]

On 1 March 2019, the Member States’ ambassadors meeting in the Council’s Permanent Representatives Committee agreed with the Council’s position on a draft directive which amends the unfair commercial practices directive 2005/29/EC, the consumer rights directive 2011/83/EU, the unfair contract terms directive 93/13/EEC and the price indication directive 98/6/EC. The new draft directive results from […]

Norfolk County Council Trading Standards has successfully prosecuted Katie Hope and Scott Wolfe for fraudulent trading, forgery and money laundering. The Defendants, through their firm “International Distance College”, had duped over 900 people into paying for qualifications that did not exist. The Defendants had claimed that the courses they were offering were expertly written and […]

In February’s Practical Law lending column Thomas Samuels considers the status of default notices in light of the recent judgment in Doyle v PRA Group (UK) Ltd [2019] EWCA Civ 12. Read the column here.

In January’s Practical Law regulated lending column, Lee Finch considers the impact of the FCA taking over responsibility for the regulation of claims management companies, which takes effect on 1 April 2019. The column is available here: Claims Management Regulation

The Court of Appeal has handed down judgment in Doyle v PRA Group (UK) Ltd [2019] EWCA Civ 12. The case addresses the recurring question of when limitation starts to run in respect of a claim for the debt due under a credit card agreement. Sir Terence Etherton MR, giving the judgment of the Court, held that […]

The Information Commissioner’s Office has announced a prohibition on all cold-calls in relation to personal pension schemes, to come into force from Thursday 10 January 2019. This is to take effect by way of an amendment to the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EU Directive) Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/2426), inserting a new regulation 21B. However, the […]

Gough Square is delighted to announce that its new Heads of Chambers are Kevin de Haan, QC and Jonathan Goulding. Chambers expresses its thanks to Claire Andrews for acting as Head for over thirteen years.