Julian Hayes speaks to Compliance Week
BCL partner Julian Hayes is quoted in Compliance Week's article titled ‘Don't count on European regulators to relax rules during coronavirus crisis”.
Here's an extract from the article:
European businesses may be putting themselves at risk because they mistakenly believe regulators are prepared to loosen the rules, lower the compliance burden, and lessen enforcement so companies can operate more easily as the coronavirus pandemic lingers on.
Companies that deliberately flout the law to attempt to gain market share are also unlikely to recoup costs or damages from insurers. "Even where policy wording is sufficiently broad to allow for claims for regulatory investigations, it has long been a U.K. principle not to indemnify intentional wrongdoing," says Julian Hayes, partner at law firm BCL Solicitors. "Some regulators, such as the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), had previously reinforced this message with an outright ban on regulated firms arranging or claiming insurance policies purporting to indemnify them against penalties imposed by the financial regulator."
Other EU countries take a similarly harsh line. For example, France, Italy, Denmark, Austria, and Luxembourg prohibit insurance for both criminal and administrative penalties, while Sweden, the Netherlands, Greece, and Croatia make intention or malice the determining factor of insurability.
This article was originally published by Compliance Week on 16/04/2020. You can read the full version on their site.
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