Iceland mulls bid for potential Sainsbury’s-Asda store sell-offs February 11, 2019 Frozen foods giant Iceland is mulling a move to snap up supermarket stores that Sainsbury’s and Asda could be forced to offload as part of their proposed tie-up. "We are looking at everything for sure," Iceland's managing director Richard Walker told the FT. "Food retail drives footfall and we are the only supermarket that is [...]
Joint audit could inject some competition into the market January 22, 2019 Last week, the House of Commons’ Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy select committee opened hearings on its influential inquiry into the future of audit. Top of its agenda will be the proposed remedies set out by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in its recent review, which could bring wholesale change in the UK’s listed [...]
KPMG examining audit spin-off in wake of damning report from MPs April 8, 2019 Big Four accounting firm KPMG is reportedly planning an overhaul of its UK business in the wake of political pressure and a wave of scandals. KPMG could split its UK audit practice from its wider UK business, The Times reported. Read more: MPs call for full breakup of audit’s Big Four in wake of scandals [...]
Why Vestager’s legacy is about to catch up with her September 14, 2019 It was a week full of surprises in the world of tech antitrust regulation. On Monday, Google found itself at the centre of a 50-state investigation by the US attorneys general into a range of anti-competitive practices. By the end of the week, publishers had hit out en masse at Google and Facebook for “unscrupulous [...]
Compare the Market ‘broke the law’ with insurance pricing clause November 2, 2018 Households could have lost money due to a Compare the Market clause that prevented home insurers from listing lower prices on rival comparison websites. Compare the Market’s so-called most favoured nation contract clauses stopped home insurers from beating prices listed on Compare the Market elsewhere, in a bid to stop rivals winning home insurance customers. [...]
Viagogo forced to overhaul ticket-selling practice by competition watchdog November 27, 2018 Ticket reseller Viagogo was today forced to “overhaul” the way it does business by the UK’s competition watchdog. In a landmark legal victory the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has secured a court order that will force Viagogo to tell customers the specific seat that they will get and whether there is a risk of [...]
Here are the six (yes, six) reviews the audit sector is currently facing November 14, 2018 As 2018 continues to be the annus horribilis of audit, bean counters are finding that sector reviews are, as the saying goes, like buses. With news this week that MPs are going to launch their own super-inquiry, the sector now faces six reviews. If that seems like more than you’ve got to grips with, here’s a [...]
Sainsbury’s begins search for new banking chief as Peter Griffiths prepares to retire January 3, 2019 Sainsbury’s has begun the search for a new chief executive of its banking division after confirming Peter Griffiths will step down next year. Griffiths, who has been in charge of Sainsbury’s Bank since 2012, will step down in 2020, Sky News first reported. The supermarket chain confirmed it was in the “early stages” of finding [...]
Metro Bank denies rumours of financial trouble ahead of fundraising May 12, 2019 Under-fire high street lender Metro Bank sought to quash fresh rumours of financial trouble this evening ahead of a crucial City fundraising effort expected to take place in the coming days. The challenger bank insisted today there was no truth to speculation on social media and messaging apps about instability at the firm, as it sought [...]
Competition watchdog hits Heathrow with £1.6m fine October 25, 2018 Heathrow Airport has been slapped with a £1.6m fine over limiting competition for parking prices and infringing competition law. Britain’s competition regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), said this afternoon that the airport and the owner of Heathrow T5 Hotel Limited had infringed competition law. The company commented: "The CMA found that the Arora Group [...]