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The fraught identification of the wealthy investor as a “consumer” and/or “professional”
In this article, Ben Smiley and Helena Spector examine recent case law concerning the frequently thorny question of whether those who make high-value, sophisticated personal investments are “consumers” and/or are “professional clients” for the purposes of different legislation such as the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the FCA Handbook, and thus are entitled to the protections therein. The contest over these protections for high-value investors is likely to continue.
08 February 2026Supply chain finance in the EU: Part 2 – fixing enforceability: conflicts of law, true sale and an interoperable e‑notice regime
Cross-border supply chain finance (SCF) in the EU is critically vulnerable to legal uncertainty, primarily due to divergent member state rules governing receivable assignments, debtor defences, set-off and “true sale” characterisation. This fragmentation hinders enforceability, reduces advance rates (the amount of the loan advanced) and complicates recoveries, thereby exposing a significant structural gap within the Single Market. This article outlines a practical legal blueprint for a targeted EU SCF Regulation designed to address these challenges comprehensively. The proposed framework includes a clear conflicts-of-law rule for third-party effects and priority, calibrated debtor-defence and set-off treatment and objective safe-harbour criteria for true sale. Furthermore, it details an interoperable electronic notice (e-notice) regime crucial for establishing opposability (when the debtor becomes officially aware of the new arrangement), fixing priority and preventing double-pledging across the EU. This harmonised approach promises to transform the current fragmented landscape into a predictable and enforceable cross-border market, fostering greater resilience, efficiency and liquidity in EU SCF operations.
08 February 2026Multi-issuance schemes for payment stablecoins: an EU-US comparison
Comparing the recently adopted EU and US regulatory regimes on stablecoins, this article seeks to explain the legal approach, in those two jurisdictions, to the question of the legal feasibility of multi-issuance schemes, ie those involving the parallel circulation, in the EU and the US, of payment stablecoins of the same issuer, marketed as: (i) fungible (substitutable); and (ii) redeemable in either jurisdiction.
08 February 2026When code meets compliance: the institutional turn in Decentralised Finance
In this article, the authors consider whether DeFi can maintain its open, disintermediated ethos while integrating with compliance frameworks.
08 February 2026The growth of private credit in the UK: the “new” threat to financial stability
This article looks at some of the vulnerabilities that emerge from the growth of private credit, particularly in light of the systemic stability concerns that have been raised by the Bank of England in the UK, and other policymakers globally. It provides an understanding of the shift of key intermediation activities from banks to non-banks, the causes of this trend, and the challenges it poses to regulators. This article argues that the growth of private credit today has its roots in pre-2008 shadow banking, and it is ill-suited to address questions of access to finance for the real economy.
08 February 2026Credit Suisse v Ivanishvili: the door opens to fraud-on-the-market claims under s 90A FSMA
This article considers the effect of the Privy Council’s decision in Ivanishvili on claims under s 90A Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. It argues that Ivanishvili opens the door to claims based on the “fraud on the market” theory: it is now clear that a claimant need not prove it was consciously aware of misleading representations or dishonest omissions to establish reliance. However, the decision also acknowledges the difficulties which arise with respect to ambiguous representations. Cases brought under s 90A in which statements made in published information leave room for more than one meaning may still face difficulties, given the requirement to prove that an ambiguous representation was understood in the sense in which it is said to be false. What may matter in resolving these difficulties is the sense in which the defendant intended its published information to be understood. This, along with the prevailing norms and expectations in markets, is likely to remain an evidential battleground.
08 February 2026Low or maximum security? Navigating the risks in taking security over AI-generated materials
This article explores the legal and commercial risks for lenders and investors taking security over assets consisting of, or containing, Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Model generated materials. In light of those risks, this article considers practical steps that lenders and investors may wish to consider taking in order to mitigate those risks where possible.
08 February 2026Security over e-money: the form of security and blocking
Electronic money (e-money) is now a familiar part of the corporate financing world and it is now common to see corporates wanting to use their e-money as collateral on a range of financing transactions. In this article, we examine the key legal and practical aspects of structuring English law security over e-money, in particular whether the statutory right to redemption impacts the ability for a secured party to have effective control over e-money. This article reflects the current English law on e-money. Changes to the safeguarding regime (applicable to e-money issuers in the UK), which may alter the status of funds held for e-money-holders, are envisaged but are not yet in place. This article considers some provisions of legislation at the EU level, since the Electronic Money Regulations 2011 entered into law based on EU directives (prior to Brexit).
08 February 2026Sustainable finance: leaving everyone behind
This is the second in a series of articles which identifies certain of the issues which may have caused the green and sustainable finance market to have become relatively depressed of late.
08 February 2026How can stablecoins move between regulatory systems?
As regulatory stablecoin regimes multiply, the fate of stablecoins, both in their potential and their risks, lies in how stablecoins can move between regulatory systems. This article shows that some major jurisdictions have approached this issue in quite different ways.
10 January 2026
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