Start here

Background on M&A, Capital Markets, Disputes & more →

Deadlines, salaries & culture notes for 57 City firms →

Built for the application journey.

Monday, 10 August 2026

Compiled with AI from public news sources. Folio is editorial commentary for commercial-awareness practice, not legal advice. Verify any detail against the linked sources before relying on it professionally.

All M&A Capital Markets Banking & Finance Energy & Tech Regulation Disputes International AI & Law

Top Story/AI & Law

FCA's Mills Review and EU AI Act transparency rules create a dual-layer compliance challenge for AI use in retail financial services

Two overlapping regulatory events are reshaping how AI is governed in retail financial services across the UK and EU. The FCA published its Mills Review into AI and retail financial services, described by legal commentators as the first work of its kind initiated by a regulator globally. Simultaneously, the EU AI Act's transparency obligations came into force on 2 August 2026, creating binding requirements for firms deploying certain categories of AI system that interact with consumers. The Mills Review, led by FCA Executive Director Sheldon Mills, examines how AI could reshape retail financial services for consumers, firms, markets, and regulators by 2030 and beyond. The review highlights four areas where firms need to act: governance frameworks, accountability structures for AI-driven decisions, fraud defence systems, and inclusive product design that does not disadvantage vulnerable customers. The EU AI Act's transparency obligations, now in force, require firms deploying AI systems in consumer-facing contexts to disclose that the consumer is interacting with an AI system, and to ensure AI-generated content is labelled as such. For firms authorised by the FCA that also operate in the EU or sell into EU markets, the result is a dual compliance framework: UK supervisory expectations set by the Mills Review and binding EU obligations under the EU AI Act. Legal commentators, including those at TLT, have framed the Mills Review as an immediate prompt to act rather than a distant regulatory signal, noting that governance, accountability, fraud defence, and inclusive design are the four pillars requiring attention.

The Daily Briefing

Daily commercial law briefings for future City trainees — curated stories, talking points, and firm intelligence, every morning.

Also Today

Apollo Agrees $7.7 Billion Takeover of UK Budget Airline easyJet in Contested Auction

Oil markets remain on edge as uncertainty over the Strait of Hormuz reopening keeps Brent elevated and energy lawyers on alert

FCA amends UK Prospectus Rules under the POAT regime and publishes Handbook Notice 143 covering June and July rule changes

English Courts Deploy Worldwide Freezing Orders as Cross-Border Asset Flight Risk Escalates in Commercial Disputes

US moves to ban exports of lithium-ion battery and tungsten waste in a push to reduce reliance on Chinese critical minerals processing

The Trump administration has announced plans to ban the export of lithium-ion battery waste and tungsten waste from the United States, as part of a broader effort to reduce Amer…

“Export bans on battery scrap are a new front in the US-China decoupling that forces immediate supply chain…”

M&A

PE firms accelerate IPO exits as sluggish deal markets make trade sales harder to achieve

Private equity (PE) sponsors are increasingly turning to the initial public offering (IPO) market as an exit route for portfolio companies, as constrained dealmaking limits thei…

“When trade buyers dry up, a hot IPO market becomes the PE industry's release valve for aging portfolios.”

Capital Markets

JBS agrees joint venture with arm of Indonesian wealth fund in a cross-border agri-food capital partnership

JBS, one of the world's largest meat processing groups, has agreed a joint venture (JV) with an arm of Indonesia's sovereign wealth fund, according to a Reuters report published…

“State capital from Asia is increasingly taking JV stakes in food supply chains, not just passive equity pos…”

Bigger Picture

Sector Watch

Dual AI Regulation Convergence

The publication of the FCA's Mills Review alongside the EU AI Act's transparency obligations coming into force on 2 August 2026 marks the week that AI governance in financial services became a dual-layer compliance discipline rather than a voluntary exercise. UK retail financial services firms now face FCA supervisory expectations on governance and accountability on one side, and binding EU transparency rules on the other. City firms with strong financial regulatory and technology practices, including TLT which published detailed analysis of the Mills Review, are well positioned for the wave of gap-analysis and policy-drafting mandates that follow. The FCA's framing of the review as a prompt to act now rather than a distant signal suggests supervisory visits targeting AI governance are already in the pipeline for 2026 and 2027.

One to Follow

The judicial review of the Public Order Act 2023 infrastructure protest regulations, following the High Court's grant of permission to animal rights campaigners, is the developing case to watch across late 2026.

A successful challenge would constrain the government's power to extend protest restrictions via secondary legislation and fundamentally alter the legal toolkit available to energy, utilities, and transport operators seeking to protect critical infrastructure from disruption, generating significant public law and infrastructure advisory work for City practices.

Full access

You've read today's headlines.

Full articlesDaily quizFirm interview packsPodcast