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UK scraps the bonus cap - competitive divergence or prudent policymaking? On 24 October 2023, the PRA and the FCA issued a joint policy statement (PS) announcing that the bonus cap would be scrapped from 31 October 2023. The move follows a joint consultation paper (CP) published in December 2022, which itself gave effect to a c...

Has the UK just abolished its 1.5% stamp duty charge? “I see the 1.5% is being removed!” was the subject line of a client e-mail received early last Thursday afternoon in light of HMRC’s latest announcement. To which the answer is “not quite!” No resurrection of the 1.5% stamp duty charge on capital raisings...

Has the UK just reintroduced its 1.5% stamp duty charge on share issues? The short version: it seems that it has, with effect from 1 January 2024, as a result of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill receiving Royal Assent on 29 June 2023. What is currently unclear is whether that is a deliberate policy choice or an...

Cooperation, Dialogue, Divergence: The Future UK-EU Relationship in Financial Services Regulatory dialogue between the EU and the UK is set to resume officially with the adoption by the European Commission of a draft Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) establishing a framework for structured regulatory cooperation between the parties in finan...

The Subsidy Control Act comes into effect today Today the Subsidy Control Act 2022 comes into full effect. The Act represents a development of the UK subsidy control regime that was put in place at the end of 2020 as part of the implementation of the UK’s commitments in the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation ...

The UK's future regulatory framework Following the UK's Treasury Department response to its final consultation on its review of the UK regulatory framework (the Review), its proposals, largely unamended following consultation feedback, are being legislated for through the Financial Services ...

Riding into the sunset: the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill At the end of 2023, certain EU laws and rights retained as part of domestic law in the UK following its departure from the EU will fall away if the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill currently before the UK Parliament is enacted, save where they...

(Greater) goods and (community) services: is it time we rethought charity VAT? Registered charities in the UK benefit from a broad exemption from most tax, so they might be forgiven for assuming that they are also exempt from VAT - but that is not the case. To make it more confusing, the law as HMRC applies it can mean that the same...

UK Financial Regulation: Part 2 The government has published the second instalment of its proposals for adapting the UK’s regulatory framework for financial services, referred to as the Future Regulatory Framework (FRF) Review. Its key objective is to achieve an agile and coherent appr...

UK’s Autumn Budget 2021 On 27 October 2021, Chancellor Rishi Sunak presented the UK’s second Budget of 2021 under the tagline “A Stronger Economy for the British People”. Few tax measures made it into a speech dominated by spending announcements, but this should not detract from...