UK: Government consultation on corporate liability for economic crime - an update

In January 2017, the Government published a call for evidence in respect of the law on corporate liability for economic crimes: see here (pdf). Last month, the Government published its response: see here (pdf). The Government has concluded - in the light of insufficiently strong evidence of the need for reform in consultee responses, and the need to take account of more recent reforms - that it is not appropriate to proceed with legislative reform immediately. Instead, as already noted on this blog, the Law Commission has been asked to review the law on corporte criminal liability.

Canada: companies, the Charter of Rights and protection from cruel and unusual treatment or punishment

It is, I hope, not too late to note a judgment of the Supreme Court handed down at the start of last month: Quebec (Attorney General) v. 9147-0732 Québec inc., 2020 SCC 32. The court held that section 12 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which provides that "Everyone has the right not to be subjected to any cruel and unusual treatment or punishment" did not apply to companies.  The Court of Appeal had, by majority, held that section 12 did apply to companies. A summary of the Supreme Court's judgment is available here. 

UK: Treasury consultation: a special administration regime for payment and electronic money institutions

HM Treasury has, today, published a consultation paper in respect of a proposal to introduce a special administration regime for payment institutions (PIs) and electronic money institutions (EMIs): see here (pdf). To quote directly from the consultation paper (paras. 1.4 and 1.5):

.... there is evidence that the existing insolvency process for PIs and EMIs is suboptimal with regards to consumers. Recent administration cases involving PIs and EMIs have taken years to resolve in some cases, with customers left without access to their money for prolonged periods and receiving reduced monies after the cost of distribution. In six recent cases of PIs and EMIs in insolvency proceedings (of which three started in 2018), only one has so far returned funds to customers.  The Government is therefore proposing to introduce changes that will help protect customers in the event of a PI or EMI being put into insolvency. As these changes can be delivered relatively quickly and could mitigate harms from any future insolvencies, the Government believes it is appropriate to progress these changes before the conclusion of the Payments Landscape Review is published".

UK: FRC research - audit committee chairs and audit quality

The Financial Reporting Council has published the results of qualitative research exploring audit committee chairs' views on, and approach to, audit quality: see here (pdf). The accompanying press release, available here, carries the headline "New research supports introduction of standards for Audit Committees" but readers of the report might think that other findings are more significant, including, for example, one of the key themes to emerge: that audit committee chairs had different views on, and approaches to, audit quality. Another theme was a lack of shareholder interest in audit matters (other issues, such as remuneration, were identified as being more important). 

UK: Court of Appeal considers Part VII insurance business transfers

The Court of Appeal has, for the first time, considered the approach that should be taken when considering whether to sanction the transfer of an insurance business under Part VII of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000: see Re Prudential Assurance Company Ltd and Rothesay Life Plc [2020] EWCA Civ 1626, handed down today and for which a summary (prepared by the court) is available here (pdf).