Virgin Money lending dips in run-up to Nationwide takeover August 2, 2024 Virgin Money's lending to customers dropped by one per cent last quarter as the group prepares to be taken over by Nationwide imminently.
HSBC will face no penalty for breaching open banking rules over 50 times January 19, 2023 The Competition & Markets Authority has criticised HSBC for breaching open banking rules on over 50 occasions, but the banking giant has been told it will receive no penalty. HSBC published inaccurate information and failed to publish required information on more than 50 occasions over the last five years, the watchdog said. The violations of [...]
Our laws on tech companies would give too much power to regulators like the CMA July 3, 2023 Laws for big tech are already based on outdated information where Google and Facebook are king and regulators like the CMA are expected to make sense of a changed world, writes Matthew Sinclair
UK competition watchdog clears £6bn Avast takeover by NortonLifeLock September 2, 2022 The £6bn acquisition of Avast by NortonLifeLock has been officially cleared by the UK’s competition watchdog. The Competition and Markets Authority had launched an investigated into the merger in March, with concerns the combined cyber security powerhouse would squash competition in the sector. The watchdog said that while it found a “realistic prospect” of weaking [...]
CMA investigating airlines over lack of refunds for cancelled flights December 16, 2020 The UK’s competition watchdog has announced that it will investigate the country’s airlines over their failure to offer refunds to customers who could not fly due to the pandemic. As a result of travel restrictions due to coronavirus, thousands of passengers have had their flights cancelled over the course of the year. Consumer groups have [...]
Hunt pushes to make UK ‘the world’s next Silicon Valley’ November 17, 2022 The Chancellor has vowed to turn Britain into “the world’s next Silicon Valley,” stating that the key to global success was “not tax subsidies but competition”. In his Autumn statement, Jeremy Hunt restated the government’s commitment to pushing through legislation that would activate the Digital Markets Unit (DMU). Under the current draft Digital Markets Bill, [...]
Govt drags feet with new digital markets bill October 25, 2022 A new report by MPs on the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee has called on the Government to push forward with a draft Digital Markets Bill that would allow regulators to take a more proactive approach to curbing big tech dominance. The bill would enshrine the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) Digital Markets Unit (DMU) [...]
Viasat and Inmarsat $7.3bn merger could choke competition in wifi market, says CMA October 6, 2022 Viasat and Inmarsat’s $7.3bn (£6.4bn) merger faces further scrutiny from the UK’s competition watchdog over concerns it will choke competition in the aviation sector’s on-board wifi market. The Competition and Markets Authority said today that with both companies having a strong presence in the aviation market, the deal would remove a significant element of competition [...]
Competition watchdog to probe Nvidia’s $40bn Arm takeover January 6, 2021 The UK competition watchdog has opened an investigation into Nvidia’s $40bn (£29bn) takeover of British chip designer Arm. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) today said it will look into whether the deal could lead to Arm withdraw, raising prices or reducing the quality of its services to Nvidia’s competitors. “The chip technology industry is [...]
Apple facing UK competition probe over app store dominance March 4, 2021 Apple is facing a competition probe in the UK over claims the way it treats app developers is “unfair and uncompetitive”. The iPhone maker has been locked in a long-running dispute with app makers including Epic Games, the company behind hit video game Fortnite, over the cut it takes through the App Store and on [...]