Four women nab top roles at City watchdog the FCA February 25, 2021 Four women have won top jobs at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), where they will sit on the executive committee – the regulator’s most senior executive decision-making body. Stephanie Cohen will be the FCA’s new chief operating officer and Jessica Rusu the first chief data, information and intelligence officer at the regulator. Sarah Pritchard will [...]
Exclusive: Legal consultant model to become dominant among mid-market law firms February 25, 2021 The legal consultant business model will become the dominant model among high street and mid-market law firms, with around a third of UK lawyers predicted to be working under such a model in five years’ time. The Covid-19 pandemic has acted as a “catalyst” for industry disruption, exposing the “poor management and outdated operating models [...]
German accounting watchdog head to step down in wake of Wirecard scandal February 24, 2021 The head of Germany’s accounting watchdog in stepping down, after coming under fire for failing to spot wrongdoing ahead of the collapse of the payments company Wirecard. The agency, formally known as the Financial Reporting Enforcement Panel (FREP), said in a statement on Wednesday that President Edgar Ernst is leaving his post at his own [...]
Extending the stamp duty holiday won’t avoid a cliff-edge, it will make the eventual fall steeper February 24, 2021 The stamp duty holiday created a bloated and false economy in the housing market; it’s time to scrap the policy, not extend it. Rishi Sunak introduced the policy last summer. The idea was simple enough – add a bit of fuel to the property market and stoke consumer spending by only making buyers cough up [...]
KPMG enters exclusive talks with private equity firm HIG on sale of restructuring arm February 24, 2021 Big Four firm KPMG has entered into exclusive talks with private equity firm HIG Europe about the sale of its UK restructuring business The deal, first reported by Sky News, could be worth some £400m. KPMG declined to comment on the rumours, and HIG could not be reached for comment. Sky also reported HIG has [...]
McKinsey boss Sneader ousted following poor crisis handling February 24, 2021 McKinsey global managing partner Kevin Sneader has been voted out of his position following a perceived poor handling of a succession of crises. All 650 of McKinsey’s senior partners routinely vote every three years on who should lead the firm, but, according to the Financial Times, this year’s election was seen as a referendum on [...]
FCA told to stop cum-ex probe after judge questions regulator’s priorities February 24, 2021 An investigation into a trader involved in cum-ex transactions has been stopped, after a judge questioned the FCA’s apparent lack of commitment to probing the European tax scandal. City watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) was ordered to pause its probe until 2022, after a separate court decides on a case brought by Danish tax [...]
Reddit website goes down as Gamestop shares jump February 24, 2021 Reddit, the self-titled “front page of the internet”, crashed last night as shares in amateur trader favourite Gamestop climbed once again. The site, which is accessed by millions of people daily, went down at around 9pm on Wednesday. Shortly afterwards Reddit tweeted that it had identified the issue and its systems had recovered. It came [...]
Tiger Woods rushed to hospital following car crash, currently in surgery February 23, 2021 Golfer Tiger Woods was rushed to hospital today after sustaining multiple leg injuries in a car crash. Woods is currently in surgery, his agent told Golf Digest, having sustained extensive leg injuries. The crash took place in Los Angeles. According to statement from the Los Angeles Country Sheriff’s Department, the crash took place at around [...]
Elon’s Bitcoin bet hands Jeff Bezos back title of world’s richest person February 23, 2021 Elon Musk is now merely the second richest person alive, after the eccentric entrepreneur’s Tesla ploughed $1.5bn dollars into Bitcoin, which has plummeted in value in recent days. Tesla’s share price has fallen around 25 per cent from its peak, amid sell-off of high-flying technology stocks. Tesla’s fall was compounded still by the fall in [...]
