Watchdog warns Monzo and NatWest over banking transaction history breaches June 22, 2021 Britain’s competition watchdog has issued a warning to banks including Monzo and NatWest over breaching rules requiring them to send banking transaction histories to former account holders. Nearly 150,000 customers were not provided with the necessary information quickly enough, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said today. Monzo was responsible for the largest portion of [...]
Watchdog clears Ebay’s $9.2bn classified ads deal with Adevinta June 3, 2021 The competition watchdog has cleared Ebay’s $9.2bn (£6.5bn) sale of its classified ads business to Norwegian rival Adevinta. In March the two companies said they would sell off three British divisions to secure regulatory approval for the tie-up. Adevinta said it will divest Shpock, while US ecommerce giant Ebay will sell Gumtree and Motors.co.uk. The [...]
CMA watchdog warns ARM sale raises ‘serious competition concerns’ August 20, 2021 The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has said that NVIDIA’s purchase of Arm raises serious competition concerns. The report, which has been sent to Oliver Dowden, the Secretary of State for Digital, said an “in-depth investigation” into the $40bn deal between Arm and NVIDIA is warranted. The CMA highlighted that NVIDIA and Arm are both [...]
Sajid Javid calls for CMA investigation into ‘exploitative’ PCR test costs August 8, 2021 Sajid Javid has asked the UK’s competition watchdog to investigate PCR Covid test firms that are selling tests at “excessive” prices and engaging in “exploitative practices”. The health secretary wrote to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to call for a “high-level review” in a bid to protect holidaymakers requiring private PCR tests before and [...]
Facebook and Twitter ‘failing to tackle fake review factories’ January 13, 2022 Facebook and Twitter have been accused of failing to tackle an online industry of fake product reviews, with new research uncovering schemes on the platforms with hundreds of thousands of members.
CMA clears Issa brothers’ Asda takeover after accepting petrol station sale June 16, 2021 The UK’s competition authority has today cleared the way for the Issa brothers’ £6.8bn takeover of supermarket Asda after accepting their offer to sell off 27 petrol stations. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had launched a probe into the deal in April due to fears that acquisition could increase petrol prices for motorists. The [...]
Government tells CMA to focus on growth after Microsoft criticism November 24, 2023 The government has told the Competition and Markets Authority to boost its focus on UK growth going forward as it laid out a list of new priorities for the watchdog following a string of criticism over the past few months.
Sunak says investors have nothing to fear over tougher tech M&A regulation September 15, 2021 Chancellor Rishi Sunak said proposals from the UK’s competition watchdog for tougher scrutiny of M&A deals in the startup industry are reasonable and not intended to discourage early investors in UK tech companies. “I don’t think people need to be that anxious about it,” he told reporters at a tech event in London. “No one [...]
Crunch time: Cérélia forced to sell Jus-Rol after court dismisses appeal April 12, 2024 French pastry maker Cérélia has been ordered to sell frozen pastry Jus-Rol after losing an appeal against the competition watchdog. US based food company General Mills, which owns Jus-Rol, announced in November 2021 that it agreed to sell its European dough businesses to Cérélia. With an annual turnover of €800m (£682m), Cérélia brands include Croustipate, [...]
UK holidaymakers paid ‘more than £1bn’ on travel tests this summer September 9, 2021 UK holidaymakers could have paid more than £1bn for Covid tests this summer, a crippling levy that has kept the lid on the travel and aviation sector’s recovery. Research from the Evening Standard suggests that 5m passengers have taken a total of 11.5m PCR tests in the period from May to September. With each test [...]