4 New Square Chambers is a leading set in relation to disputes arising from the buying, selling and management of financial instruments such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds and other investment contracts.
We act in relation to claims by shareholders seeking to recover alleged investment losses arising from corporate misconduct, misrepresentation, mis-selling, fraud or other corporate wrongdoing such as breach of fiduciary duty, with ESG related claims forming an increasing part of our portfolio.
Our work involves:
- Claims brought under s90 and s90A Financial Services & Markets Act 2000 (FSMA).
- Derivative and unfair prejudice claims.
- Claims framed by way of fraud and negligence.
Many of these claims are run as group actions or managed under group litigation orders (GLO) and require knowledge of third party litigation funding and “after the event” (ATE) insurance. As a leading set for costs, litigation funding and group litigation as well as banking and finance, commercial litigation and fraud, we are perfectly placed to handle this work.
Featured Securities Litigation Cases
We have been involved in most of the largest and most complex s90 and s90A Financial Services & Markets Act 2000 claims of recent years as well as other major securities litigation including:
- Various claimants v Standard Chartered [2025] EWHC 698 (Ch): group action involving claims under ss90 and 90A FSMA arising out of breaches of anti-terrorist finance laws and alleged bribery of foreign officials. Important guidance regarding ESG group claims using s90 and s90A FSMA, reliance and delay.
- Investors v Entain plc: high value securities and prospectus claim under ss90 and 90A FSMA.
- Thurrock Borough Council v Laven Advisors: £25m claim for fraudulent misrepresentation to induce investment in tradeable bonds intended to raise capital for SME lending.
- Various claimants v Boohoo plc: claim by a group of institutional investors for allegedly untrue or misleading statements to the financial markets.
- Various claimants v G4S: investment fraud claim brought by large group of institutional investors against G4S for fraudulently inflating costs so as to reduce profits available for profit share.
- Various claimants v Barclays plc [2024] EWHC 2710 (Ch): guidance on whether market/price reliance would satisfy the reliance requirement in section 90A/Schedule 10A of FSMA and thereby give index and algorithmic funds a remedy under English law for misleading and/or material omissions made by companies in statements to the financial markets.
- 4VVV Ltd & Ors v Spence, Kewley, Crump & Ors [2024] EWHC 2314 (Comm): £50m group action which included groundbreaking claims for breaches of FSMA.
- Various Claimants v Serco Group: claim under s90A FSMA concerning alleged shareholder losses stemming from allegedly fraudulent non-compliance with the Disclosure & Listing Rules.
- Allianz & Ors v RSA Insurance: group action by institutional investors under s90A FSMA. It is the leading authority on the application of s32 Limitation Act in relation to s90A cases.
- Various claimants v Glencore plc: £100m claim alleging bribery and price fixing against an international mining company.
