Simon Howarth KC and Lucile Taylor have obtained judgment in Kession v KVB and others [2026] UKSC 11.
The Supreme Court allowed the appeal of their client, Kession, against the decision of the Court of Appeal [2024] EWCA 765 (Lewison LJ dissenting) and held that Kession was not responsible for the acts and omissions of its appointed representative. The basis of the decision was that Kession had validly restricted the authority of the appointed representative under section 39 FSMA by means of a term of the appointed representative agreement which forbade dealings by the appointed representative with retail clients.
The judgment also contains valuable observations on the purpose and effect of the regulatory regime, and disapproves the notion that the purpose of section 39 is to provide “long stop liability” in favour of the client.
Simon and Lucile were instructed by Lucy Tolond, Robbie Constance and the whole team at DWF LLP, whose support was much appreciated.
Simon and Lucile would like to thank Oliver Brewis for assistance with research.
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