Category Archives: Regulators

CMA to investigate Amazon’s $1.7bn takeover of Roomba firm

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Competition watchdog calls for evidence deal could give online retailer dominance in smart home market

Amazon’s $1.7bn takeover of the owner of the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner is being examined by the UK’s competition watchdog.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has called for evidence on whether the deal could lead to “a substantial lessening of competition within any market or markets in the United Kingdom for goods or services” and so would require a full investigation.

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Watchdog to block shareholder payouts if UK water companies miss targets

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Ofwat says new powers will be used if firms fail to reach performance and environmental goals

The UK water regulator is to use new powers to block companies from shareholder payouts if they fail to hit performance and environmental targets.

Ofwat, which in December heavily criticised some of the country’s biggest suppliers over the size of dividend payments relative to their financial performance, said the new rules would also mean water companies would “maintain a higher level of overall financial health”.

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Ladbrokes fined nearly $80,000 for failing to stem damage from man who stole millions for gambling

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Regulator finds firm did not inquire as to source of Gavin Fineff’s funds and instead ‘provided attractive bonuses’

The sports wagering company Ladbrokes has been fined nearly $80,000 for serious breaches of its licence and failing to limit damage caused by Gavin Fineff, a financial adviser who stole millions of dollars from his clients to service his gambling addiction.

Fineff has pleaded guilty to multiple fraud-related offences in the New South Wales district court and is awaiting sentencing. He lost more than $8m to sports gambling, with much of that money belonging to friends and clients, some of them elderly and vulnerable.

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‘Greenwashing’ firms face steep new UK fines for misleading claims

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Legislation could see companies fined millions of pounds for making unproven environmental assertions to sell their products

When the hydrogen-powered Hyundai Nexo car was launched in the UK in the spring of 2019, it was described as “so beautifully clean” that it “purifies the air as it goes”.

Hyundai Motor UK claimed that if 10,000 of its cars were on the road, carbon emission reduction would be “equivalent to planting 60,000 trees”.

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Sub-prime lender Amigo avoids £73m fine after claiming hardship

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FCA finds company put customers at high risk of harm by failing to assess whether they could repay loans

The sub-prime lender Amigo has dodged a £73m fine despite having put consumers at a “high risk” of harm, amid fears that the financial penalty could have led to its collapse.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) investigation found Amigo put business interests ahead of its customers, by failing to properly assess whether customers, or their guarantors, could afford to repay loans they applied for – noting faults in both its automated tech and human oversight between November 2018 and March 2020.

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Sunak rejects calls for BBC chair, Richard Sharp, to stand down

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PM says he does not want to prejudge inquiry and that appointment was made after the ‘correct process’

Rishi Sunak has rejected calls for Richard Sharp to stand down as BBC chairman, despite the businessman failing to declare his role in arranging a secret £800,000 personal loan for Boris Johnson.

Sharp has been criticised by MPs for “significant errors of judgement” over his failure to mention his role in helping to arrange the loan for the former prime minister in early 2020. Johnson later appointed Sharp, a Conservative party donor, to oversee the BBC’s board.

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Scams: FCA blocks more than 10,000 ads from Instagram, Facebook and YouTube

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Financial watchdog warns over rise of ‘fin-fluencers’ targeting younger people on social media

More than 10,000 misleading financial promotions and scams aimed at consumers via social media sites such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok have been identified and targeted by the financial watchdog during the past year.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said the use of social media marketing channels and the rise of so-called “fin-fluencers” – particularly directing investment products at younger age groups – exploded last year, resulting in a record number of takedown notices and alerts.

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UK charities watchdog ‘assesses concerns’ about Campaign Against Antisemitism

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Commission opens ‘regulatory compliance case’ after complaints that the charity is politically partisan

The Charity Commission has said it is “assessing concerns” about the Campaign Against Antisemitism, which was at the forefront of antisemitism allegations against Labour under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

The commission has opened a regulatory compliance case against the CAA, after complaints including that the charity is politically partisan.

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FTX assets worth $3.5bn held by Bahamas securities regulator

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Authority says it is holding digital assets until they can be returned to creditors and former customers

The Bahamas securities regulator has said it has seized assets worth $3.5bn (£2.9bn) from the failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX and plans to return them to creditors and former customers.

The Securities Commission of the Bahamas said it had transferred all digital assets under the custody or control of FTX Digital Markets, a Bahamas subsidiary of the FTX operation, to its own digital wallets for “safekeeping”.

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Jeremy Hunt to outline plans for shake-up of City regulation

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Chancellor expected to target senior managers’ regime and ringfencing rules in 30-point package

Jeremy Hunt is due to unveil a 30-point package of City policy changes on Friday that will involve rowing back on regulations in order to boost competition and growth.

The chancellor’s announcement, referred to as the “Edinburgh reforms”, will outline how the government intends to “review, repeal and replace” a host of rules that were introduced to protect savers and the taxpayer after the 2008 financial crisis, but which ministers now believe risk hindering the success of London’s banks and insurers compared with their overseas peers.

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Labor government locks in compensation scheme for financial misconduct victims despite ‘god-like powers’ warnings

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Minister for financial services says government’s accountability regime is ‘locked and loaded’ and will not be changed

The Labor government will push ahead with a new compensation scheme for victims of financial misconduct, refusing to water down civil penalties for the finance sector, and rejecting a claim it would give the responsible minister “god-like powers” to punish banks.

The assistant treasurer and minister for financial services, Stephen Jones, said the government’s financial accountability regime was “locked and loaded” and will not be changed, and rejected Liberal senator Andrew Bragg’s call to have parliament determine the scope of a new levy on financial industry members that will pay for the scheme.

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Barclays could be fined £50m for failing to disclose 2008 Qatari deal

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Provisional fine relates to £322m bank paid to Gulf state allegedly in exchange for £4bn investment to save lender from bailout

The City watchdog could fine Barclays up to £50m for failing to disclose a deal struck with Qatar at the height of the financial crisis, reviving a controversial episode that failed to gain traction in UK courts.

The provisional fine – which Barclays is in the process of appealing against – relates to the £322m the bank paid to Qatar in 2008, allegedly in exchange for the gas-rich Gulf state investing £4bn, helping save the lender from a UK government bailout.

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UK trade regulators struggling to cope due to poor Brexit planning, MPs say

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Commons committee warns there are still shortages of staff to deal with UK’s new status as a third country

UK regulators are struggling to cope with the post-Brexit trading environment because of “poor preparation and planning”, a House of Commons committee investigation has found.

Almost two years after the UK quit the EU, there are still shortages of vets, toxicologists, lawyers and economists to deal with the UK’s new status as a “third country”, found the public accounts committee report, Regulating After EU Exit.

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Inflight wifi could be pricier if takeover of UK satellite firm goes ahead, says CMA

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Competition and Markets Authority says other operators may not be able to compete after merger of Inmarsat and Viasat

The $7.3bn (£5.4bn) takeover of the British satellite company Inmarsat by its US rival Viasat could result in higher-priced and lower-quality wifi for aeroplane passengers, according to the UK competition watchdog.

The Competition and Markets Authority said its investigation has identified concerns with the merger possibly leading to airlines being offered lower-quality products for onboard wifi and facing higher prices to deliver it.

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UK watchdog to examine whether telecoms companies mislead customers

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Cap says mobile and broadband users must get clear information about inflation-busting bill increases

The UK advertising watchdog has launched an investigation into whether telecoms companies are misleading consumers about inflation-busting bill increases when promoting deals in their marketing campaigns.

Telecoms companies make billions of pounds annually by instituting price rises to mobile and broadband bills midway through contract periods – increases that will add to the biggest squeeze on the cost of living facing households in generations.

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UK forces crypto exchanges to report suspected sanction breaches

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New rules in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine cover all notionally valuable digital assets

Crypto exchanges must report suspected sanctions breaches to UK authorities under new rules brought in amid concerns that bitcoin and other cryptoassets are being used to dodge restrictions imposed in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Official guidance was updated on 30 August to explicitly include “cryptoassets” among those that must be frozen if sanctions are imposed on a person or company. As well as digital currencies, such as bitcoin, ether and tether, cryptoassets could include other notionally valuable digital assets such as non-fungible tokens.

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City regulators clears HBOS ex-bosses of misconduct over bank’s near-collapse

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Watchdogs say six-year investigation had determined no grounds for action against unnamed individuals

City regulators have cleared former bosses of HBOS of misconduct in the lead-up to its near-collapse in 2008, despite previously having blamed the bank’s board for its failure.

The Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said on Friday that they had concluded “rigorous and forensic investigations” into unnamed former managers, after gathering more than 2m documents, interviewing former bank managers, and undertaking “substantial analysis” of the bosses’ roles and responsibilities at what was then the country’s biggest mortgage lender and savings institution.

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Blackmores subsidiary kept selling pregnancy vitamins despite hundreds of complaints, ex-employee alleges

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Whistleblower says he was instructed to tell customers the products were safe to consume, despite lack of testing evidence

A subsidiary of the supplements company Blackmores left a pregnancy multivitamin on shelves for nearly a year despite hundreds of complaints that it was contaminated with mould-like black spots, a former staff member has alleged.

In a complaint to the Therapeutic Goods Administration, Peter Ellis alleged FIT-BioCeuticals brushed aside concerns about its products, including pregnancy vitamins and vitamin D drops being used by a children’s hospital, in potential breach of quality regulations.

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Former US Coinbase employee and two others charged with insider trading

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Cryptocurrency exchange manager and his brother arrested in Seattle in what is described as the first case of its kind

A former Coinbase employee and two others have been charged in what federal authorities described as the US government’s first cryptocurrency insider trading case.

Ishan Wahi, a product manager at the cryptocurrency exchange, and his brother Nikhil Wahi were arrested in Seattle on Thursday. They and a third defendant, their friend Sameer Ramani, who remains at large, also face civil charges from the US financial watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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CMA investigates sport broadcasters over ‘cartel-like behaviour’

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Watchdog says it suspects possible breaches of competition law around purchase of freelance services

The competition watchdog is investigating possible cartel-like behaviour by sport broadcasters including BT Group, ITV, Sky and IMG Media, which includes Premier League Productions, around the purchase of freelance services.

The Competition and Markets Authority said it believes there are “reasonable grounds to suspect one or more breaches of competition law”.

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