Banking and financial services law forms a significant part of Turlough’s practice. He advises and acts for a wide range of institutional and individual clients, both domestic and international, in both contentious and non-contentious work.
On the banking side, he has advised on disputes involving loan transactions, personal and corporate surety arrangements (including guarantees, letters of comfort and performance bonds), mortgages, finance agreements, structured financial products, letters of credit and bills of exchange.
On the financial services side, he has acted (almost exclusively for institutional clients) on a wide range of disputes, including misrepresentation and mis-selling claims (including LIBOR and forex manipulation), claims under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, claims against financial professionals, and Consumer Credit Act claims. He has also advised on a number of debt and equity programmes for UK, Irish and US financial institutions.
Turlough has experience of regulatory investigations and compliance issues, and has been retained to advise a major German investment bank and a leading private bank on regulatory matters.
Illustrative cases include:
- Acting for and advising a high net worth individual and companies related to him in respect of the mis-selling of interest rate derivative products, with a claim value of in excess of £2.5 million: Rodger Dudding v. (1) Royal Bank of Scotland PLC & National Westminster Bank PLC. The claim, which has now settled, involved issues of market manipulation by the counterparty bank, as well as allegations of misrepresentation and breach of statutory duty.
- Acting (as “senior junior”) for and advising US credit card company on claims arising from its acquisition of a major credit card portfolio. The case – CCUK Ltd v. Barclays Bank PLC – has now settled, but gave rise to issues of, amongst other matters: remediation of customer’s accounts to make good regulatory breaches by the previous card issuers; indemnities; and mis-selling. The value of the various claims arising in the case was in excess of £1.5 billion
- Shurbanova v. FXCM Ltd (Commercial Court). Acting for and advising a high net worth individual in a claim against a well-known forex trading company for damages for the wrongful adjustment of profitable bullion and currency trades, which is proceeding in the Commercial Court in London.
- Acting for Société Générale in respect of English procedural law matters arising out of a claim against SG in France by a Swiss fund. This also involved providing expert advice on fraudulent misrepresentation in English law.
- Bank of Scotland plc v. Hoskins & Hoskins (Chancery Division). Acted for a bank in a claim against it for £64 million, arising out of alleged breaches of contract and/or misrepresentations in the provision of funding to an AIM-listed company, latterly led by Richard Handyside QC.
- Bulgrains & Co Ltd v. Shinhan Bank [2013] EWHC 2498 (QBD). Advising and acting for a Korean bank in successfully defending a claim against it for refusal to honour a letter of credit.
- Acting for and advising a bank in an appeal (first before the Chancery Division and then to the Court of Appeal) on the construction of an admission made in first instance proceeding, involving questions of the operation of CPR, r.3.7 and the Court’s powers to set aside an earlier order: Kojima v. HSBC Bank plc [2011] 3 All ER 35, [2012] 1 All ER 1392.
- Advising a major private bank on the compliance of its documentation and procedures with the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and subsequent primary and secondary legislation.
- Advising and acting for a bank in claims against it for breach of duty in the provision of development finance: National Westminster Bank plc v. Gadston (2013).