In this article, the authors argue that courts must deepen their understanding of digital asset technologies to avoid perpetuating ambiguities evident in the D’Aloia judgment.
09 February 2025The decision in Republic of Mozambique v Credit Suisse [2024] EWHC 1957 is part of a wide-ranging dispute arising from alleged corruption in Mozambique sometimes referred to as the “Tuna Bonds” or “Hidden Debts” affair. This article focuses on the conflict of laws issues raised by the claims brought successfully by Mozambique in these proceedings.
09 February 2025The rule in Ralli Bros will excuse non-performance of an English law obligation where performance necessarily involves an act prohibited by the law of the place of performance. However, the courts have not given clear guidance on identifying the place of performance where a foreign bank plays an ancillary role in the performance of such an obligation. While there is good reason to consider that payment of liabilities in a foreign currency, or to a foreign account, necessarily involves performance in a foreign country, each contract or instrument must be carefully examined to determine what precise acts fall to be performed, and where.
09 February 2025In this article, Adam Eckersley-Waites reviews some outstanding issues relating to the National Security and Investment Act 2021 relevant to finance practitioners and two recent noteworthy developments.
09 February 2025There are two approaches to acceleration following the filing of bankruptcy. On the one hand, a typical US style debt document provides for automatic acceleration on an insolvency event of default. On the other hand, many other jurisdictions typically do not include such automatic acceleration provisions in financing documents. This article discusses the primary differences between the Chapter 11 treatment of a loan that automatically accelerates the debt following an insolvency and a loan in which such acceleration is at the discretion of the lender.
09 February 2025Benedict Tompkins considers the Loan Market Association’s standard sovereign immunity clause in light of recent case law on enforcement against defaulting sovereign debtors.
09 February 2025In One Savings Bank plc v Waller- Edwards the Court of Appeal advanced a test to be applied to determine whether the lender is put on inquiry in a secured lending “hybrid” transaction where the relationship between the two borrowers is non-commercial. This article argues that there are problems with the test advanced by the Court of Appeal and that a preferred test is discoverable in the judgment of the House of Lords in Royal Bank of Scotland plc v Etridge.
09 February 2025As cryptoassets have evolved, “staking” (the generation of rewards for locking up tokens), borrowing on margin, and lending against cryptocurrencies to, for example, bet on future movements of cryptoassets against fiat currencies, have all become available activities. In this article, David Mcllroy and Clyde Darrell examine how such activities interact with the UK’s consumer credit regime and the extent to which it can offer individuals an avenue for redress.
07 February 2025In this article, Matthew Parker KC considers some aspects of the LMA standard form illegality provision, including what does “unlawful” mean? and the application of the provision irrespective of the relative importance of the obligation.
07 February 2025In Allianz Funds Multi-Strategy Trust v Barclays plc [2024] EWHC 2710 (Ch) the High Court struck out claims by investors in Barclays plc by those who did not claim to have read the Bank’s market publications, and all claims for dishonest delay. In doing so it made potentially far-reaching findings as to the scope of UK securities legislation.
07 February 2025