Liquidation of Bill Hwang’s Archegos Capital Management sparked a fire sale of more than $20bn assets
Financial regulators across the world are monitoring the collapse of the New York-based billionaire Bill Hwang’s personal hedge fund.
The sudden liquidation of Hwang’s Archegos Capital Management sparked a fire sale of more than $20bn assets that has left some of the world’s biggest investment banks nursing billions of dollars of losses.
Continue reading...PM welcomes vaccine safety vow, then spots new offshore home for folk trafficked here under false pretence – of getting a welcome
After a morning spent painting flowers at a primary school in his Uxbridge constituency, Britain’s prize clot returned to Downing Street to lead a press conference on clots. Blood clots to be precise.
Following the decision of some countries to suspend their Oxford AstraZeneca vaccination programmes over concerns of blood clot side-effects, Boris Johnson was happy to report that the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency had declared the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine to be absolutely safe.
Continue reading...The Covid crisis has turbo-charged profits and share prices. But are the big six now too powerful for regulators to ignore?
The coronavirus pandemic has wrought economic disruption on a global scale, but one sector has marched on throughout the chaos: big tech.
Further evidence of the industry’s relentless progress has come in recent weeks with the news that Apple and Amazon both raked in sales of $100bn (£72bn) over the past three months – 25% more than Tesco brings in over a full year.
Continue reading...Analysis: Running the online retailer should be a dream job, but where and how to grow will challenge Andy Jassy
A pain-free departure of a visionary founder is a difficult trick to pull off for any business. The stakes are even higher for a company the size of Amazon, as Jeff Bezos steps back from his day-to-day management role.
The decision by Bezos, 57, to quit as chief executive later this year took analysts by surprise, but the first step has already gone smoothly, with Andy Jassy appointed as his successor without any public power struggle.
Continue reading...US experts warn against plan to give different second jab if supplies run low
The UK is setting the pace around the world in the approval and use of Covid vaccines but, while other countries watch intently, not all are yet prepared to embrace what looks like public health pragmatism rather than strict adherence to evidence.
Britain is the first country in the world to approve and use the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, just as it was first with Pfizer/BioNTech’s. In a further trailblazing decision, it is giving everyone a first shot of either of those vaccines, with the second shot delayed to 12 weeks afterwards instead of the three- or four-week interval in the trials.
Continue reading...The regulatory fast-tracking of the Covid vaccine in Britain by MHRA has led some to question its methods
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) in the UK has not had a round of applause from anyone other than the UK’s politicians and the vaccine companies. It gave temporary authorisation to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine on Wednesday and within hours, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) put out a stiff statement implying more work was needed than the UK regulator had done. Its own decision could come as late as 29 December. It may well have been needled by the crowing of the health secretary, Matt Hancock, who claimed the fast approval as a Brexit triumph. He had to backtrack. The MHRA’s chief executive, June Raine, pointed out that the agency had simply taken advantage of a provision that any country in Europe could use, to fast-track approval in a pandemic.
Continue reading...People should be confident in the safety of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid vaccine, the chief executive of the UK regulator said. Dr June Raine, head of the Medical and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), said the vaccine had been subjected to rigorous testing and had met strict standards of safety and quality
Continue reading...London force accepts watchdog advice over flawed tactics undermining community confidence
The Metropolitan police force has been getting its use of stop and search wrong with multiple errors that have undermined its legitimacy, the police watchdog has found.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct said police in one case stopped and searched two black men who were innocently fist bumping, because officers wrongly thought they were drug dealing.
Continue reading...Exclusive: English and Scottish regulators refuse to reveal homes with most fatalities
Covid-19 death tolls at individual care homes are being kept secret by regulators in part to protect providers’ commercial interests before a possible second coronavirus surge, the Guardian can reveal.
England’s Care Quality Commission (CQC) and the Care Inspectorate in Scotland are refusing to make public which homes or providers recorded the most fatalities amid fears it could undermine the UK’s care system, which relies on private operators.
Continue reading...Watchdog fears that social media giant’s takeover of Giphy may reduce competition
The UK’s competition regulator has opened an investigation into the proposed $400m (£320m) takeover of gif search engine Giphy by Facebook amid fears that the acquisition may reduce competition in the UK.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is inviting comments about Facebook’s purchase of a company that currently provides gif search across many of the social network’s competitors, including Twitter and the messaging service Signal.
Continue reading...Tech giant conspired with wholesalers Tech Data and Ingram Micro to align prices, says watchdog
Apple has been fined a record €1.1bn (£990m) by antitrust regulators in France for engaging in anti-competitive agreements with two wholesalers. The penalty imposed on the US tech giant is the largest ever handed out to a company by the Autorité de la Concurrence.
Commenting on the move, Isabelle de Silva, head of the French competition watchdog, said: “Apple and its two wholesalers agreed to not compete against each other and prevent resellers from promoting competition between each other, thus sterilising the wholesale market for Apple products.”
Continue reading...Transport secretary says senior figures will gradually return to UK as regulatory powers revert to CAA
The UK is to withdraw from the European Union aviation safety regulator (EASA) after the Brexit transition period, Grant Shapps has confirmed.
The transport secretary said many of the most senior figures at the organisation headquartered in Cologne, Germany were British and that they would gradually return to the UK throughout this year as regulatory powers reverted to the Civil Aviation Authority.
Continue reading...Damning CQC report on private Cygnet Acer clinic where patients could self harm and one died by hanging
A privately run mental health unit has been banned from admitting new patients after inspectors found numerous safety failings, one of which led to a resident dying by hanging.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has stopped the Cygnet Acer Clinic, in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, from accepting new inpatients. It declared that the facility was “not safe” for people to use.
Continue reading...Regulator had said it corruptly hired unqualified relatives of foreign officials to win business
Deutsche Bank has agreed to pay a $16m (£13m) fine to US authorities overallegations that it hired unqualified relatives of powerful Russian and Chinese government officials to win business.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleged that Germany’s largest lender had used false books to record the hirings, which meant the relatives – known in China as “princelings” – did not have to go through rigorous interview processes.
Continue reading...Enforcement order issued after online retailer bought stake in food courier service
The UK’s competition regulator has ordered Amazon and the food delivery company Deliveroo to pause any integration efforts pending an investigation into potential breaches of competition rules.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Friday issued an initial enforcement order against the companies after Amazon bought a stake in Deliveroo.
Continue reading...International Life Sciences Institute used by corporate backers to counter public health policies, says study
An institute whose experts have occupied key positions on EU and UN regulatory panels is, in reality, an industry lobby group that masquerades as a scientific health charity, according to a peer-reviewed study.
The Washington-based International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) describes its mission as “pursuing objectivity, clarity and reproducibility” to “benefit the public good”.
Continue reading...European Medicines Agency heads for Amsterdam 63 days before Brexit
The European Medicines Agency, one of the biggest EU regulators and one of the first casualties of Brexit, has closed its doors in the UK for the last time with the loss of 900 jobs.
Staff lowered and folded up the 28 national flags that adorned the lobby in London’s Canary Wharf headquarters on Friday night and bid farewell before moving to their new offices in Amsterdam.
Continue reading...Clampdown on stars being paid for endorsing products without disclosing firm rewards them
More than a dozen celebrities, including Alexa Chung and Ellie Goulding, have pledged to change the way they label social media posts after Britain’s competition watchdog clamped down on the practice of stars being paid for endorsing products without disclosing they were being rewarded by the company.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had secured formal commitments from 16 celebrities to state clearly if they have been paid or received any gifts or loans of products which they endorse.
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