A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry. 

From 1 October 2026, failures by service providers and subcontractors to carry out right to work checks could result in fines being imposed on businesses further up the supply chain. The civil penalties are significant, up to £45,000 per illegal worker for a first breach, rising up to £60,000 for repeat breaches.

Cryptoasset firms are days away from the FCA opening its authorisation gateway on 30 September 2026. In an ideal world, the regulatory perimeter – enacted by Parliament in legislation, and (where appropriate) supplemented by interpretative Perimeter Guidance from the FCA – would have been finalised some time ago, allowing such firms to make strategic decisions about their commercial and regulatory objectives in the UK.

The first article in this series examined the rules of several leading arbitral institutions – the LCIA, the ICC, the SIAC and UNCITRAL – noting that none currently contains express provisions on AI. It also considered how existing procedural rules may nevertheless accommodate the use of AI, identifying best practices for parties who wish to adopt AI tools in their proceedings.

The Building Safety Levy comes on stream on 1 October 2026 and imposes a potentially significant new cost on residential developments. This article answers 3 key questions that landowners and developers may be asking themselves about the new tax.

Four "nationally significant" cyber attacks a week on average in the UK: that was the NCSC's count for the year to September 2025. Yet data centres, the backbone of the UK's digital economy, have until now remained outside the scope of cyber regulation.

Since November 2025, when the European Commission first published its proposal to update the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR 2.0), there has been widespread interest in how far the final SFDR 2.0 legislation could modify or dilute sustainability-related obligations for funds distributed in the EU. The asset management industry has been hoping for a legislative solution to some of the complexities and limitations of the existing SFDR 1.0 rules.

Welcome to Frontline by Travers Smith – our series addressing the key issues affecting the defence sector. 

The UK tax authority (HMRC) has recently announced that it will expand the exclusions from its new mandatory tax adviser registration requirement. Under this expansion, an exclusion will apply to a wider range of circumstances where advice is provided outside of a traditional tax adviser - third party commercial relationship.

A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry 

This week the Government launched a wide-ranging consultation proposing a significant overhaul of the UK's corporate reporting framework, as well as the long-awaited clarification to the law around virtual AGMs. The stated aims are to reduce administrative burdens, refocus reporting on investors and creditors, and make the reporting framework proportionate and effective.

Mandatory vulnerability and incident reporting requirements under the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) apply from 11 September 2026. Manufacturers placing products with digital elements on the EU market, ranging from smartphones to industrial IoT, must now comply with these obligations, including in respect of products already on the market. 

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is accelerating across disputes and arbitration is no exception. However, those working in the arbitration sphere cannot afford to overlook how the use of AI interacts with institutional rules.

With the summer drawing to a close and the final quarter of the year beckoning, the Financial Services and Markets team at Travers Smith has prepared an End of Summer Postcard to flag key regulatory priorities for Q4 2026 and beyond. 

In July 2026, the Supreme Court handed down judgment in Saxon Woods Investments Limited v Francesco Costa [2026] UKSC 21, addressing important issues of company law, including whether an individual director can "go it alone" and subvert the collective will of the board if they genuinely believe that pursuing an alternative strategy is in the best interests of the company.

The UK Government is making major changes to the law on late payment – including fines for businesses which fail to pay suppliers on time, a prohibition on payment periods over 60 days and a new adjudication system for certain payment disputes. These measures are likely to lead to a significantly tougher regulatory environment, particularly for larger businesses which regularly use SME suppliers.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon John Healey MP, will deliver his first Budget on Wednesday 28 October 2026.

It's now over a year since the Competition and Markets Authority gained a raft of tough new powers to enforce UK consumer law under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA). We look at the key takeaways for consumer-facing businesses from the CMA's early enforcement activity in this space.