US judge blocks Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster’s £1.9bn merger November 1, 2022 A US judge has blocked Penguin Random House’s planned $2.18bn (£1.89bn) purchase of Simon & Schuster, after finding the move would hurt competition for anticipated best sellers. Judge Florence Pan of the US district court for the District of Columbia said that the combination of Bertelsmann owned Penguin and Paramount Global owned Simon & Schuster would “substantially” [...]
Can regulators get the City growing? It will be hard to tell, lawyers warn May 10, 2023 The government may run into trouble as it looks to gauge the impact of City regulators in boosting the growth and international standing of the UK’s financial sector, top lawyers have warned.
Competition watchdog opens probe into Facebook’s Giphy takeover January 28, 2021 The UK competition watchdog has launched a formal investigation into Facebook’s takeover of popular gif search engine Giphy. Facebook last year announced it planned to merge the gif-maker with Instagram in a deal worth a reported $400m (£321m). The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) served an initial enforcement order in June, forcing the social media [...]
Targeting globally comparable disclosure standards November 11, 2021 Companies and consumers are increasingly looking beyond climate change as they consider wider environmental social and governance issues. A supportive regulatory foundation therefore is needed to help the financial sector to respond effectively. It’s not only ethically minded consumers that want to know the source and environmental and human impact of products that they buy, but [...]
UK trade data market not working ‘as it should’ as investors pay the cost of lack of competition, says FCA March 2, 2023 A new study from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has found competition in the wholesale data market is “not working as well as it should”, leading to extra costs for investors and savers. Trading data includes information on the prices and volumes of financial products traded and supplied by venues such as stock exchanges. The [...]
Scantily clad CMA guidelines will do little to fend off greenwashing on our high streets and in our banks October 5, 2021 restore it. The term greenwashing wasn’t invented by the environmentally active Gen Z or even the older cohort of millenials. It dates back to 1986 when American environmentalist Jay Westerveld used it to describe hotels asking their customers to reuse towels to limit water usage while they abused neighbouring nature areas for their premises. Washing [...]
UK competition watchdog investigating ‘immediate’ government action on PCR test prices August 13, 2021 The UK competition regulator has said it is exploring what immediate action the government can take to quash the hugely variable prices charged by private providers of Covid PCR tests for travel, after the health secretary, MPs and the travel industry called for an intervention. In a statement published yesterday, the Competition and Markets Authority [...]
Bank of England’s PRA sets out new post Brexit Solvency UK details in bid to unlock investment June 29, 2023 Britain’s main financial watchdog has set out a raft of changes to the EU’s Solvency II regime to improve the competitiveness of the UK insurance market and unlock investment in the economy. In an announcement this morning, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) provided more detail on how it will make adapt the EU’s Solvency II [...]
Google and Microsoft object to Nvidia’s $40bn Arm takeover February 13, 2021 Google and Microsoft have objected to the $40bn (£29bn) takeover of British chipmaker arm by Nvidia as the deal faces an in-depth competition probe in the US. The two tech giants, as well as semiconductor rival Qualcomm, are among the companies to object to the mammoth merger amid concerns it could harm competition. The US [...]
Accounting watchdog cuts red tape as ministers press regulators for UK growth January 22, 2024 The City’s accounting watchdog has confirmed a newly slimmed down rulebook for companies today as it looks to ease the red tape burden on firms and “support the growth and competitiveness” of the UK.