Financial Services Disputes

Financial services disputes are now high-profile, multi-jurisdictional and reputationally sensitive, with greater regulatory scrutiny and increased pressure from investors. Against this backdrop, we act for financial institutions, investment firms and senior professionals who are involved in complex, high-value financial services disputes, frequently involving, or following on from, investigations and enforcement actions.  

We have acted on many of the most significant financial services disputes of recent years and are widely recognised for the clarity and rigour of our work as well as the outstanding results we achieve. Our clients include leading banks, asset managers, credit funds, investment funds, exchanges, cryptocurrency developers, broker/dealers and payment firms. We are increasingly instructed on material litigation following on from regulatory findings and have a long history of working on some of the largest class actions in the English Courts. 

Combining litigation strength with deep sector knowledge, we work hand in hand with our Financial Services Regulatory, Private Capital and Corporate teams to deliver a coordinated strategy that anticipates risk, safeguards commercial objectives and protects reputation. 

We are regularly instructed on matters involving:

• litigation and enforcement, including disputes in wholesale and retail banking, private capital, investment and asset management, cryptocurrency, trading, finance and restructuring, including fraud and misrepresentation claims;
• international arbitration, representing clients under the rules of all major institutions, including disputes relating to capital markets and sovereign debt;
• internal and regulatory investigations , including FCA, PRA, DOJ and SFO matters, as well as litigation arising from regulatory investigations;
• financial crime investigations, including fraud, bribery, money laundering, market abuse and sanctions compliance; and
• advising senior individuals in connection with investigations, interviews and witness testimony in criminal or regulatory proceedings.

Work highlights include:

• representing a global financial institution in defending multi-billion dollar claims in the High Court arising out of alleged FX manipulation;
• acting for a sovereign state bringing multi-billion dollar unlawful conspiracy claims which include a conspiracy to manipulate the exchange rate of its currency;
• acting for the most active equity investor in the UK and Ireland in defending serious claims of fraudulent misrepresentation and conspiracy in a three-week trial in the Commercial Court and securing a complete victory;
• successfully defending 13 individual Bitcoin developers in a highly publicised trial relating to Dr Craig Wright and concerning the identity of the pseudonymous inventor of Bitcoin, “Satoshi Nakamoto”;
• acting for a sovereign state in a multi-billion-dollar arbitration over the financing of its capital markets debt;
• representing a global financial institution in one of its most significant regulatory investigations involving allegations of civil and criminal market abuse which resulted in the regulator taking no action;
• acting for a global bank in successfully resolving a multi-year investigation by the FCA and other overseas’ enforcement agencies into fictitious trading that caused losses of c.$60; and
• together with leading independent firms from around the world, overseeing a global financial institution’s most serious and business critical regulatory and criminal investigations and follow-on litigation.