{
  "id": 14085864,
  "title": "Bar Council introduces new rule to prevent misuse of clients’ funds",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/13/bar-council-introduces-new-rule-to-prevent-misuse-of-clients-funds",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-13T01:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Free Malaysia Today",
    "slug": "free-malaysia-today-freemalays",
    "url": "https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2026/10/13/bar-council-introduces-new-rule-to-prevent-misconduct-in-insurance-payouts"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Bar Council has implemented a new rule mandating that two partners in a legal firm must co-sign cheques and oversee multi-factor authentication for online transactions involving clients' accounts. This regulation, set to commence next year, was instituted in response to \"significant\" high insurance payouts resulting from misconduct and dishonesty in managing clients' accounts. In a circular issued on September 25, the Bar Council stated that this trend is unsustainable, as significant payouts will inevitably lead to higher overall losses and subsequently increased premiums for all firms.\n\nUnder the new rule, legal firms with more than one partner are required to have two partners as signatories for all transactions, barring instances where one partner is sufficient to halt account operations or cancel transactions. Firms utilizing electronic banking must also ensure that partners implement multi-factor authentication for accessing clients' accounts. Although many firms already employ comparable safeguards, the Bar Council aims to standardize these practices without imposing undue burdens, as noted in the circular.",
  "summary": "The rule takes effect next year and follows concerns over ‘significant’ high insurance payouts due to dishonesty.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Free Malaysia Today",
        "title": "Bar Council introduces new rule to prevent misuse of clients’ funds",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/13/bar-council-introduces-new-rule-to-prevent-misuse-of-clients-funds-14086346",
        "published": "2026-10-13T01:00:00.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}