Uber slapped with fine by French courts over illegal service June 9, 2016 Uber has been slapped with a fine by French authorities over its UberPop service, which the country's government deems illegal. The court in Paris fined the billion dollar startup €800,000 (£626,000), only half of which is payable, but avoided a payment of as much as €1.5m Read more: Porsche on-demand? VW boss reveals Gett plans Two Uber France [...]
Four years after the Libor scandal broke – how many bankers have been found guilty, and how many have been acquitted? July 4, 2016 Four years ago, Bob Diamond sensationally quit as chief executive of Barclays as a scandal over Libor-rigging sent shockwaves through London’s banks. Shortly after, on 6 July 2012, the Serious Fraud Office (known as the SFO) kicked off an investigation into the manipulation of Libor – the “London Interbank Offered Rate”, an interest rate benchmark [...]
London mayor Sadiq Khan’s plans to pedestrianise Oxford Street by 2020 need more detail, say critics July 14, 2016 Plans to pedestrianise Oxford Street within four years have been given a mixed reception by campaigners, who say City Hall needs to release more details. London mayor Sadiq Khan plans to pedestrianise the stretch from Tottenham Court Road to Bond Street as part of his plans to tackle air quality. And this week, London deputy mayor [...]
The new deal for sharing data between the EU and US is officially done July 12, 2016 Businesses can now breathe a sigh of relief about the tricky issues of sharing data across the Atlantic. A new agreement on the rules governing data transfer between Europe and the US has been agreed by Brussels, replacing the Safe Harbour agreement which was torn up by the courts last year. Officials have managed to hash out [...]
Goodbye Piccadilly: A short history of the Piccadilly Circus advertising billboards January 16, 2017 On only a handful of occasions in its 100-year history has the hotchpotch of billboards at Piccadilly Circus been intentionally switched off during peacetime. Most famously, when Winston Churchill died, and later, Princess Diana. The advertising space, recognisable around the world, is symbolic of the national mood; it wears black when we mourn. But today, minus [...]
Court told: Failure to spot fixing is like missing nudists on a beach June 15, 2016 The possibility that Barclays bosses did not notice the manipulation of Libor submissions is the equivalent of them failing to spot nudists on a beach, a lawyer said yesterday. Adrian Darbishire, a lawyer for ex-trader Ryan Reich, said in his closing arguments that it was more likely executives didn’t think anything was wrong with what was going [...]
The boardroom and the slave: These are the actions firms need to take August 26, 2016 This autumn, executive boards should expect to see slavery and trafficking as compulsory board agenda items, with the introduction of Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act. The statement Large UK companies are required to publish an annual statement, signed by a director, detailing actions taken to eradicate modern slavery within its organisation and its [...]
Big tobacco firms aim to stub out new plain packaging laws via appeal May 22, 2016 Two of the big four tobacco companies are set to launch an appeal in the coming weeks against last Thursday's High Court ruling that paved the way for new plain packaging laws on cigarette boxes. Japan Tobacco International (JTI) and British American Tobacco (BAT) have both said they will appeal against the High Court's decision [...]
Former Barclays banker tells court that bosses must have known about Libor fixes May 22, 2016 A former Barclays trader who is currently standing trial accused of Libor-rigging related offences told the court late last week that three senior figures at the bank must have known about the rate fixing. Jay Merchant, along with fellow former traders Stylianos Contogoulas, Alex Pabon and Ryan Reich and one of Barclays' former Libor submitters Jonathan Mathew, [...]
City Moves for 3 May 2016 | Who’s switching jobs May 3, 2016 TP Bennett TP Bennett has added to its architectural team with a new senior director appointment. Neil Sterling joins as director to further strengthen the architectural team’s position in the commercial office, residential and retail markets. With over 16 years’ experience of front-end design and hands-on delivery, Neil’s previous role was at 3DReid, where he [...]