The newsletter of GBRW Expert Witness
August 2023
We’re approaching the end of the summer holiday season and we’ve once again seen the usual seasonal increase in enquiries. These generally fall into two broad categories – July (clearing the decks before the summer holiday) and August (catching up with the To Do list after returning). The balance varies from year to year and 2023 has seen a definite weighting towards July enquiries, which does make life a little easier for both experts and their instructing lawyers.
Last month also saw a strong focus on insurance-related disputes. Contacts with various insurance experts have prompted the same comment a number of times, that many solicitors don’t fully “get” how the insurance industry works. This is probably accentuated by the fact that the larger City firms specialising in this area tend to act for insurers, while many claimants are represented by their local solicitors. Our next edition in November will address a number of issues which we see on a regular basis, including whether insured parties should be claiming against their insurer or their broker (or both) and the different parties who may be involved when insurance is arranged through different distribution channels.
This quarter’s newsletter is a little shorter than usual (also reflecting holiday factors). Last November, we carried an article on the liquidity crisis in Liability Driven Investments (LDIs) which was triggered by the sudden interest rate rises in the UK’s long-dated gilts market in the wake of the ill-fated Truss-Kwarteng “mini-budget”.
As we approach the anniversary of that event, Richard Harris discusses his experience as a newly appointed lay trustee of a pension fund which was on the receiving end of the margin calls triggered by the falls in the Gilts market. Richard is an investment manager, broadcaster and expert witness based in Hong Kong and shares some very direct observations on LDIs or as he describes them, “Little Devil Inside”.
While August has been relatively quiet compared to July, the start of autumn may show that lawyers have been taking longer – or later – holidays this year. We look forward to the coming month.
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Managing Director, GBRW Expert Witness |
Our pool of experts in banking, insurance, investments, trade finance and commodity trading equips us to deal with disputes arising across most of the financial spectrum. We continue to add to our team and welcome enquiries related to the areas mentioned above.
