Matthew Padian and Luke Stewart look at a recent case in which the High Court found that a guarantee given by an individual amounted to an on demand bond for the full sum guaranteed with no reduction for amounts recovered from the main contractual party. Read more

Andrew Dodds explores the distinction between qualifying and non-qualifying bonds and the tax treatment of each following a recent Court of Appeal case. Read more

Look around on any train journey and you will invariably notice at least one nearby passenger playing Candy Crush. Jonathan Porteous and Matthew Padian review the recent case of Holyoake v Candy in which the claimant developer sought (unsuccessfully) to invoke the unenforceable penalty rule to crush the ability of the Candy Brothers to recover sums lent under a property loan. Read more

Jonathan Porteous and Matthew Padian re-visit a recent High Court judgment which found a bank to be in breach of its duty not to unreasonably withhold its consent to the release of an asset from its security package. Read more

How often do things turn out as you expect them? Instinct suggests that it’s perhaps less often that you might expect (or hope). However much we think we know the answers, sometimes it’s only the known knowns that we really know.

At the start of this year, Jonathan Porteous, Head of the Banking & Finance practice at Stevens & Bolton LLP, gave his predictions for the loan markets in 2018. You can see his half-term report by clicking here.