The Government’s reform to litigation funding is having an impact on both private individuals and companies. As this blog has previously reported, the prospect of no-win, no-fee arrangements not being available for defamation cases is worrying many individuals. The decreased availability of conditional fee agreements also has implications for companies as many businesses are finding it difficult to fund their commercial disputes.

The gap in available funding created by the Government’s reform, and the prospect of profitable commercial law judgments, has made some companies interested in third-party litigation funding. (more…)

The highly anticipated report from Sir John Vickers into the banking system has been published and proposes radical changes for Britain’s major banks.

The Independent Commission on Banking’s report recommends the banks ring fence their retail banking divisions and keep them as separate legal entities to their riskier investment banking arms. The Commission wants the changes to be implemented by 2019. (more…)

There are different ways of organising the structure of your new business. For instance, a few of the choices you have are a private limited company, a sole trader and a partnership.

Unsurprisingly, many new business start ups choose to organise themselves into a partnership because there is far more flexibility and informality with this business structure compared to if you organise yourself as a company. This is due to the fact that with a partnership there is no formal arrangement. You can choose your own terms by which to organise your partnership by drawing up a partnership agreement. (More…)

The Deputy Prime Minister has announced his plan that would see every adult in Britain given shares potentially worth hundreds of pounds in the part-nationalised RBS and Lloyds banks.

The plan to create a ‘people’s banking system’, which Nick Clegg revealed during a trade trip to Rio de Janeiro, is currently being considered by George Osborne and the Treasury, and will no doubt cause a lot of heated debate about how any windfall from the sale of the shares should be spent. (more…)

Barclays has become the first bank to apologise to its customers for mis-selling PPI, as the British Banking Association (BBA) announces it has dropped its legal battle against the FSA.

Barclays is following in the footsteps of Lloyds who announced on Friday 6 May that it was dropping out of the BBA’s judicial review battle and had set aside £3.2bn for compensating customers. (more…)

We all have bank accounts and debts such as mortgages, overdrafts and loans. Alongside these debts we also have various fees or charges. These fines and charges can be a bother to pay and trying to clarify with a bank what all these charges are for can sometimes be an even bigger hassle.  (More…)

Lloyds Banking Group has set aside £3.2bn in order to compensate customers who were mis-sold PPI (payment protection insurance).

The figure exceeds the FSA’s original estimate of the cost of the PPI scandal to the whole industry, which was £3bn, and it pushes Lloyds into the red. (more…)

The Prime Minister is due to launch a new scheme to incentivise entrepreneurs set up their own business. The scheme will give new start ups around £1,500 in areas such as internet advertising and IT training.

The StartUp Britain launch follows the announcements in the recent Budget to raise tax reliefs for entrepreneurs and create 21 enterprise zones offering tax breaks. In addition, the Government has pledged to reduce the amount of red tape and provide high-speed broadband to help new businesses. (more…)