London law firms launch first global crypto fraud network August 9, 2021 A network for crypto-related fraud has been launched by a group of law firms, including Grant Thornton, in a bid to make the UK a global centre for crypto dispute resolution, amid a rise in scams. The ‘Crypto Fraud and Asset Recovery’ (CFAAR) network has been created with the aim of becoming a “known body [...]
Whistleblowing reports of consumer detriment jump 15 per cent in 2020 April 12, 2021 The number of whistleblower reports relating to consumer detriment increased last year, and is likely to jump further in 2021 following the launch of a new campaign by the City regulator. In 2020, the number of reports rose from 15 per cent, from 161 in 2019 to 185 in 2020, according to law firm RPC. [...]
Secondary fundraising by retailers nears £2bn as firms eye M&A opportunities May 10, 2021 Listed retail companies have raised nearly £2bn in the past year as they sought to strengthen their balance sheets amid the pandemic. Now, they are starting to eye M&A opportunities. In recent years, listed firms in the UK have relied less on the public markets with private equity firms often considered a more attractive option. [...]
City Moves for 11 September – Who’s switching jobs at Ovo Energy, RPC and Axiom Stone? September 11, 2019 Today’s City Moves includes Ovo Energy, RPC and Axiom Stone. Ovo Energy Independent energy provider Ovo Energy has appointed David Allison (pictured) and Rich Jones as technology director and product director, respectively. David joins following nine years at Hotels.com, where he was the senior director, technology. In his new role at Ovo, David will lead [...]
Taxman snoops on 18,000 phone records and web histories January 11, 2021 HMRC made 18,464 requests to access communications data like phone records and web histories to aid its criminal investigations in 2019, according to city law firm RPC. The total number of communication requests was up slightly on 2018’s 18,263 requests. The latest available data was from 2019. The taxman can request data held by telecoms [...]
Calorie labelling to be mandatory for large hospitality businesses from April 2022 May 12, 2021 The government has confirmed it will bring in mandatory calorie labelling for tens of thousands of English restaurants, pubs and cafes from April 2022. The Department of Health announced today that legislation will be brought forward to force all “out-of-home food businesses” with more than 250 staff to display calorie information for all non-prepacked food [...]
FCA fines fall by half in 2020 as Covid takes hit on enforcement December 21, 2020 The Financial Conduct Authority handed out £183.6m worth of fines this year, more than half the total bill in 2019. The number of fines has fallen too, from 21 to just ten. Lawyers believe the slowdown is due to the pandemic disrupting enforcement activities, not least the FCA’s ability to conduct witness and suspect interviews. [...]
Ed Warner: Russia has taken us all for fools, especially spineless Thomas Bach February 24, 2022 Second in the table of overall medals won isn’t half bad for a nation denied a place at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. Russia has taken us all for fools. You if you watched any of it. Me for doing just that. All the sporting politicians who allow Russian athletes to compete. The greatest fool [...]
Week in Sportbiz: Taxman cometh for football (again); BT Sport; Simone Biles; social media boycott; and NHS x NFL draft April 29, 2021 HMRC has cashed in by increasing scrutiny of the football industry, so perhaps it should be no surprise that the taxman has begun a new crackdown on players and clubs. Investigations into footballers almost tripled in 2019-20, while those concerning clubs more than doubled. The result was an increase from £35m to £73m in tax [...]
Berry Global gets deadline to hijack Apollo’s RPC Group takeover February 19, 2019 Berry Global, the US firm trying to hijack an agreed £3.3bn takeover of plastic packaging giant RPC Group, has been given a 13 March deadline to announce a concrete intention to make a counter offer. RPC accepted an offer in January by private equity firm Apollo Global Management after months of negotiations. But Berry, another [...]