FCA fines Guaranty Trust Bank £7.6m for ‘serious weaknesses’ in its anti-money laundering systems January 10, 2023 Guaranty Trust Bank (UK) has been fined £7,671,800 by the City’s financial markets regulator today over “serious weaknesses” in its systems and controls designed to prevent money laundering. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said that the weaknesses “were repeatedly highlighted to GT Bank by internal and external sources, including the FCA,” but despite this, the [...]
FCA’s enforcement chief to leave next spring October 18, 2022 The Financial Conduct Authority’s head of enforcement, Mark Steward, has announced that he will be stepping down after seven years with the regulator. The FCA said in a statement today that Steward will leave in spring next year, and that the search for his successor “will begin shortly.” Nikhil Rathi, Chief Executive of the FCA, [...]
Criminal barristers vote to end strike, but warns justice system ‘remains chronically underfunded’ October 10, 2022 Criminal barristers in England and Wales have voted to end their strike action over pay today after the government tabled a 15 per cent pay rise.
KPMG fined in Dubai over audits of collapsed private equity group Abraaj October 3, 2022 KPMG has been fined $1.5m (£1.3m) by Dubai’s financial services regulator after the agency found that the firm “failed to follow applicable international auditing standards” when performing audits of Abraaj Capital Limited for a number of years up to October 2017. Former partner Milind Navalkar was also fined $500,000 by the agency, known as the the Dubai Financial Services Authority or DFSA. [...]
Criminal barristers set to vote on ending strike action following new pay offer September 29, 2022 Criminal barristers are set to vote on ending strike action following negotiations between the Criminal Bar Association and Justice Secretary Brandon Lewis. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) today outlined a package of reforms and fee uplifts reached during the talks, which it said represented a further investment of £54 million in the criminal bar and [...]
Unions plan to coordinate future strikes August 29, 2022 Trade unions are working on plans to coordinate strike action over the coming months, as workers from all sectors across the country go on strike in search of inflation-busting pay rises. A motion has been drafted for the upcoming TUC Congress that calls for a more joined-up approach to industrial action. The motion, which was [...]
Some audit partners retiring early fearing regulatory scrutiny, accounting body warns August 29, 2022 Some audit partners are retiring early over fears that they might be subject to regulatory scrutiny from the UK’s audit watchdog, a major accounting body has cautioned. “It can have negative consequences for your career if there is any deficit in the audit work you’ve done,” Michael Izza, chief executive of the Institute of Chartered [...]
Utilita Energy boss calls on the UK government to freeze the energy price cap August 22, 2022 The boss of Utilita Energy has called on the UK government to freeze the energy price cap to help support millions of households and firms this winter. Boss Bill Bullen has written to Kwasi Kwarteng calling for the urgent intervention to protect businesses and consumers faced with skyrocketing energy bills, and to stop energy prices [...]
Bulb bailout set to balloon to £4bn by April August 22, 2022 The cost of bailing out energy supplier Bulb Energy could balloon to £4bn by April unless it can be sold sooner. Bulb became the first energy firm to fall into special administration last November, as it struggled with spiralling wholesale costs and the constraints of the energy price cap. But Bulb is currently gobbling up [...]
Kwarteng says ‘help is coming’ as energy price cap looks set to exceed £6,000 next year August 21, 2022 Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has said that more support for households to cope with rising energy bills is on its way, as forecasters predict the energy price cap will exceed £6,000 in April next year. Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Kwarteng said: “Russia is the world’s largest natural gas producer. By deliberately restricting exports, [...]
