Cleaning up culture in the financial sector and holding senior managers to account is not a witch hunt, insists Andrew Bailey, chief of City watchdog March 16, 2017 Making sure financial sector bosses take responsibility for wrongdoings is not a witch hunt, the chief of the City watchdog said today. Andrew Bailey, chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), said the financial crisis had caused many people to question whether head honchos in the City were really taking responsibility for their actions, but stressed this [...]
Brexit will benefit the City if transitional periods are kept to a minimum, finds new report authored by Brexiteer academic March 16, 2017 Brexit might be the City of London's golden ticket, provided transition periods are kept as short as possible, according to a new report penned by a Brexiteer academic. "Transitional arrangements will also depend on the degree of co-operation from the EU27," read the report from Professor David Blake of Cass Business School, who is also a member [...]
Now the legal eagles are urging the government to seek a bespoke Brexit agreement for the City, while warning a “no deal” situation would have serious consequences March 16, 2017 Legal eagles have today become the latest in a string of experts calling on the government to secure a bespoke deal for the financial sector in the Brexit negotiations. The report from the Bar Council warns London's status as a financial capital risks being "greatly diminished" if the country cannot find a suitable alternative for [...]
Government sets up new watchdog – Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision – to get tough on money laundering March 15, 2017 The UK government is toughening up on money laundering by launching a watchdog to deal specifically with the crime. The Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision, or OPBAS as it will be known for short, will sit within the Financial Conduct Authority and should be up and running by the start of next year. The [...]
Suspicious package sent to German finance ministry found to contain explosives equipment March 15, 2017 Police have discovered explosive items, which could have caused somebody serious harm, in a suspicious package delivered to Germany's Federal Ministry of Finance. Ersten Untersuchungen zufolge enthielt das Paket ein so genanntes "Blitzknall-Gemisch" (gefährliche Pyrotechnik).^tsm pic.twitter.com/zOmWMax4mA — Polizei Berlin (@polizeiberlin) March 15, 2017 The police described the contents of the parcel, which was delivered to the [...]
LuxLeaks’ whistleblowers have sentences reduced, but appeal court upholds convictions March 15, 2017 A Luxembourg appeals court today cut the sentences of two ex-PwC workers for playing a part in leaking data from the firm which revealed the ins and outs of the tax tricks used by hundreds of companies. In a court ruling last June, Antoine Deltour was given a 12-month suspended sentence and a €1,500 (£1,305) fine and Raphael [...]
UBS chair Axel Weber: We’re eyeing the exit ahead of Brexit because we need a new EU base once the UK leaves March 15, 2017 The chairman of UBS hinted today the Swiss bank may not wait until the end of Brexit negotiations to move jobs out of London. Back in January, Axel Weber said about 1,000 of the bank's jobs in London were directly linked to passporting, the complex set of rights which UK financial firms currently use to do business [...]
The Supreme Court has sided with charities in their battle against a disinherited daughter who was written out of her mother’s will March 15, 2017 The Supreme Court today ruled in favour of three animal charities, arguing a lower court had been wrong in reassigning money left to them to the deceased's disinherited daughter. The Court of Appeal decided in 2015 Heather Ilott should be handed over £163,000 of her late mother's wealth, despite the two having been estranged for over two decades and [...]
Banking pressure group, the British Bankers’ Association, plans to lobby the EU27, arguing a strong UK financial sector post-Brexit benefits everybody March 14, 2017 The UK's pressure group for the banking industry is pulling together plans to lobby the EU27 for a Brexit deal that will benefit all involved, just days before Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to pull the trigger on Article 50. The British Bankers' Association (BBA) has signed up an army of experts to draft plans to persuade [...]