Rangers, Hummel and JD Sports probed by competition watchdog over replica kit pricing December 16, 2020 Scottish football club Rangers are being probed by the UK competition watchdog over the pricing of their replica kits. The Competition and Markets Authority is also investigating Rangers’ former kit maker Hummel and retailers JD Sports and Greaves Sports. The CMA said it’s probe centred on “suspected anti-competitive behaviour in relation to the price at [...]
HSBC and Santander must repay over £8m in overdraft fees November 29, 2019 HSBC and Santander must refund customers to the tune of millions of pounds after failing to text customers who fell into unarranged overdrafts. HSBC twice broke a legal requirement to text customers before charging them for falling into an overdraft and is refunding £8m to 115,754 customers. Read more: TSB branch closures: Which will close [...]
General Election 2019: Conservative Party to ditch central tenet of Big Four audit reform plans November 25, 2019 The Conservatives will throw out a proposal to impose mandatory joint auditors on large companies if they win the General Election. Officials at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis) have in recent weeks indicated that the system is unlikely to be introduced as part of wider reform of the auditing sector, Sky [...]
Brydon review finds UK audit industry in need of ‘urgent reform’ December 18, 2019 The UK’s audit industry is in need of “urgent reform”, according to the findings of a year-long review into the sector. The review, which was led by Sir Donald Brydon, a former chair of the London Stock Exchange Group, calls for the creation of “a standalone and transparent audit profession” split off from the accounting [...]
JD Sports’ merger with Footasylum edges nearer after appeal November 13, 2020 The competition watchdog’s decision to block a merger between JD Sports and Footasylum has been overturned following an appeal. The Competition Appeals Tribunal said today that the Competition and Markets Authority had acted “irrationally” when it ruled in May that the tie-up would lead to a “substantially” lessening of competition nationally. The tribunal ruled that [...]
Google plan to block cookies ‘under scrutiny’ from US regulators March 18, 2021 Google’s plan to scrap web-tracking advertising tools known as cookies is said to have attracted scrutiny from US regulators amid concerns the move could harm smaller rivals. The search engine giant has unveiled proposals to block cookies in its Chrome browser in an effort to increase user privacy. But the plans have stirred up anger [...]
Competition watchdog to examine £500m Ovo Energy-SSE deal October 24, 2019 The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said today it was looking into whether Ovo Energy’s £500m acquisition of energy supplier SSE’s retail arm will harm competition. SSE’s retail energy business supplies around 3.5m households in the UK. The watchdog said it was inviting comments on the transaction from interested parties until 6 November. Alistair Phillips-Davies, [...]
Consumer group warns shoppers could be ripped off by supermarket deals August 28, 2019 Shoppers are at risk of being ripped off, a consumer watchdog has warned, after an investigation uncovered misleading discounts and special offers at major UK supermarkets. The probe revealed that some supermarkets offer multi-buy deals that cost more, discounts that refer to a price that is not the most recent and offers in which items [...]
Competition watchdog suspends legal action against ticket reseller Viagogo September 5, 2019 The competition watchdog has suspended court action against Viagogo, saying the ticket resale site had addressed its concerns about how key information was presented to customers. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had launched legal proceedings against Viagogo for contempt of court after the firm allegedly failed to comply with an earlier court order. Read [...]
Government drops probe into Saudi investments in Evening Standard and Independent September 16, 2019 The government has decided not to pursue a probe into Saudi investments in the Evening Standard and the Independent, despite concerns they could harm freedom of expression. Culture secretary Nicky Morgan today said she will not appeal a court ruling that blocked the government from forcing a full public interest inquiry. Read more: Independent and [...]