Correspondence: William Yonge, Financial Services and Funds Group, McDermott Will & Emery UK LLP, 7 Bishopsgate, London EC2N 3AR, UK. Tel: +(0)207 577 6900; DDI: +(0)207 575 0348; Fax: +(0)207 577 6950; e-mail: wyonge@europe.mwe.com

¹is a solicitor and a partner of McDermott Will & Emery UK LLP, a firm of solicitors in the City of London. He specialises in all aspects of financial services, investment funds and securities law. In particular, he has advised fund managers, corporate financiers, private equity firms, corporations and LLPs, on issues of financial services regulation and the application of the EU financial services directives. After being called to the Bar in 1989, he was employed as an in-house lawyer at IMRO and the Securities and Investment Board (now the Financial Services Authority). He became dually qualified as a solicitor in 1999, is a member of the Securities Institute and has written numerous articles on financial services regulation and fund establishment issues. He was a principal contributor to the Financial Services volume of The Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents (2002), published by Butterworths.

²is a solicitor and an associate at McDermott Will & Emery UK LLP. He has a commercial practice specialising in intellectual property and technology law. He has advised a number of international financial institutions and investment funds on compliance with data protection and e-commerce-related issues. His practice also involves advising clients on privacy and data protection issues and the regulation of direct marketing and advertising.

Received 25 October 2006; Revised 25 October 2006.

Abstract

This paper begins with an analysis of how the Distance Marketing of Consumer Financial Services Directive has been implemented in the UK under English law and its key provisions. The paper then progresses into the fields of the E-Commerce Regulations, the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 and data protection issues. Overall, the paper provides an overview of the legislative framework that must be complied with in order, successfully and legally, to market financial services to consumers at a distance.