UK’s deregulation drive raises compliance risk, say top lawyers

The United Kingdom’s latest effort to encourage regulators to pare down rules to attract companies and investment as a way to stimulate the economy has received mixed reviews from lawyers.

That’s because the drive to scrap regulations not only brings into question which rules should be deemed defunct and why, but more importantly, whether the UK’s system of regulators acting as both watchdogs and market cheerleaders is conflicted and flawed. Relaxing regulatory scrutiny to make business run more smoothly could create the opposite effect.

“Deregulation could bring an increase in risk,” warned Parham Kouchikali, a partner at law firm Taylor Wessing. “We expect there could be an uptick in investigations and disputes in the next three to five years as a result.”