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Data privacy in a retail CBDC system built on a public blockchain
This article examines the data protection and privacy concerns arising from the use of retail Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), specifically in the context of a system built on a public blockchain, such as Ethereum. It examines the extent to which the risks and concerns can be minimised by building in privacy-enhancing technologies in the governance framework of the retail CBDC as set out in documents and legislative provisions explaining the operation of the digital pound and the digital euro.
25 October 2025Risky business: brokers and platforms in the UK’s crypto regime
Once the UK’s draft regime regulating the conduct of certain activities in “qualifying cryptoassets” takes effect, firms offering particular services in the UK will need to decide whether to do so as a trading platform or a broker. Both are permitted options, but these are often pursued separately (and future crypto regulation in the UK might make them mutually exclusive). This article analyses and compares the commercial costs and benefits of offering services via on-platform trading in cryptoassets as operators of cryptoasset trading platforms (CATPs) and via over-the-counter activities as cryptoasset brokers.
25 October 2025Misrepresentation and the constructive trust: a hunt for clarity
This article addresses the debate which has arisen from Lord Browne-Wilkinson’s much cited dictum that equity imposes a constructive trust on a fraudulent recipient whenever property is obtained by fraud. It explores the rationale for the imposition of a constructive trust in the context of the underlying legal principles and considers how those principles have been approached in the key authorities. In an effort to identify a coherent rationalisation of the authorities, it then focuses on the decision in Halley v Law Society and addresses whether that decision can be reconciled with other authority, particularly the recent Supreme Court decision in Philipp v Barclays Bank UK plc .
25 October 2025Reassessing the Quincecare duty: anti-money laundering obligations and the boundaries of authorised payments
The UK Supreme Court’s decision in Philipp v Barclays Bank UK plc has clarified the nature and scope of the so-called Quincecare duty, but significant uncertainties remain. This article explores two aspects of the duty: first, how anti-money laundering obligations intersect with the Quincecare duty; and second, in what circumstances a payment should be treated as properly authorised.
25 October 2025The FCA’s safeguarding reforms for payments and e-money firms: an update
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) believes clients of payments and e-money firms are exposed to unacceptable risks due to poor safeguarding practices across the sector. The FCA has now published final rules and guidance to address these in PS25/12. The interim-state rules have been modified in several respects, including removing the need for reconciliations on non-working days and exempting firms who have not safeguarded relevant funds from the audit requirement. The implementation period for these changes has been extended from six to nine months. The end-state rules, which included a statutory trust and abolition of the so-called “D+1 rule”, have been paused due to stakeholder concerns.
25 October 2025Security interests in digital assets under uniform law
This article discusses the treatment of security interests in digital assets under uniform law and highlights the lack of a harmonised international legal framework for their use as security for credit. Digital assets inherently transcend national borders, and the absence of a unified regime creates obstacles to their cross-border use, hindering international trade. While various uniform law texts address aspects of security interests in digital assets, they fail to provide comprehensive global unification due to differences in scope, terminology and operative rules. The UNCITRAL Model Law on Secured Transactions (STML) offers a general framework for security interests in movable assets, but it requires updates to address specific issues related to digital assets. The article emphasises the importance of updating the STML to remove barriers to the use of digital assets as security for credit and to facilitate international trade.
25 October 2025Drafting on the edge: ambiguity in hybrid jurisdiction clauses
In this article the authors consider the implications of asymmetric jurisdiction clauses drafted such that the non-exclusive limb of the provision is carved out of a blanket provision stating that the courts of England are to have exclusive jurisdiction. The article considers how, with this drafting, English courts are unlikely to refuse jurisdiction and that explicit drafting is required if a financial party wishes to compel an English court to discontinue proceedings in favour of a court of its choosing.
29 September 2025Resource-backed loans: a never-ending story?
In this article, Brad Pomfret KC, Asa Tolson and Rebecca Jones consider whether resource-backed loans secured by an ad infinitum pledge of the resources concerned risk creating irredeemable security as a matter of English law.
29 September 2025Some updates on TMT finance
This article updates the series of articles published between March 2015 and November 2018 on the subject of financing businesses in the TMT sectors (Series 1). Since then, the type and value of intangible assets have increased, many banks have launched growth debt products, private credit firms have expanded their business both generally and in providing credit to technology businesses, and some legal developments relevant to intangible assets and credit finance have taken place.
Certainly, the value of the market has grown. According to the latest ONS figures (published in November 2024), in 2022 UK businesses invested £200bn (a record) into intangible assets. This statistic also illustrates one of the original points of Series 1: of the £200bn, only around half was invested in assets protected by intellectual property rights (IPR); the rest paid for assets such as know-how, trade secrets, business processes, and all the other intangible assets that are not covered by IPR.
We can view the lay of the land in 2025 by considering what has not changed, what has changed, and what is changing.
Governing law, ungovernable questions: the challenge of public international law in the World Bank’s development policy financing agreements
This article explores the challenges surrounding governing law in the World Bank’s development policy financing agreements (ie loan, credit, guarantee and the International Development Association’s grant and financing agreements). Multilateral development banks, such as the World Bank, play a critical role in addressing global development challenges in low- and middle-income countries. The World Bank (and indeed certain other multilateral development banks owing to their nature as supranational entities) adopts public international law as the governing law for its development policy financing agreements. English law or New York law are usually used in standard loan agreements due to their predictability, clarity and well-established precedents. The World Bank’s use of public international law – while aligned with its supranational status – raises questions around enforceability, jurisdiction and dispute resolution. The article describes the role of public international law in governing the World Bank’s development policy financing agreements and its practical application.
29 September 2025
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