City watchdog tells banks to treat small businesses ‘fairly’ during cost-of-living crunch July 12, 2022 The UK’s financial watchdog has told Britain’s top banks to improve their treatment of struggling small business owners when collecting and recovering debts. The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said Britain’s banks should take action to ensure fair treatment of small and medium enterprise (SME) customers, after the watchdog uncovered repeated instances of failures during [...]
Victims’ charity calls for ‘urgent’ investment to cut court backlog as barristers’ strike continues into third week July 11, 2022 A leading victims’ support charity has called on the government to take “urgent action” to cut the court backlog by upping investment in the criminal justice system – as criminal barristers prepared for their third week of strikes. Diana Fawcett, chief executive of Victim Support chief said “court delays and cancelled hearings” are having [...]
Wirecard forged client list to secure £760m investment from SoftBank July 11, 2022 German payments processer Wirecard forged client data in its efforts to secure €900m (£760m) in investment from Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, as it sought to reassure investors about the fundamentals of its business before it collapsed the following year. The Bavarian fintech firm showed SoftBank’s representatives a fabricated list of clients on a computer in Wirecard’s [...]
Weak British pound sees salaries paid out to Akin Gump’s new lawyers surge to £179,000 a year July 11, 2022 Newly qualified (NQ) lawyers at US law firm Akin Gump are set to see their salaries surge to new highs of £179,000 a year, after the firm amended the exchange rate it uses to calculate its London lawyers pay packages to reflect Britain’s weaker pound. The exchange rate switch up will effectively mean NQ lawyers [...]
Professional services network Xeinadin buys up Doncaster accounting firm Smith Craven July 11, 2022 London headquartered professional services firm Xeinadin has acquired Doncaster based accountancy firm Smith Craven. Xeinadin, which was formed through coming together of more than 100 independent accountancy firms throughout the UK and Ireland in 2019, has absorbed Smith Craven into its network, after first investing in the firm earlier this year. First established in 1928, [...]
Solvency II reforms will not be a ‘free lunch’ for insurance sector, Bank of England says July 8, 2022 The Bank of England (BoE) has said its post-Brexit shakeup of the rules that govern the UK’s insurance industry will not be a “free lunch” for the sector, that puts policyholders at risk. In a speech on Friday, Sam Woods, chief executive of the BoE’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) said policyholders must be protected as [...]
Mining giant BHP fails in bid to throw record £5bn collapsed dam lawsuit out of court July 8, 2022 The UK’s Court of Appeals has said a £5bn claim against mining giant BHP over the 2015 collapse of the Fundao dam in Brazil should proceed in England’s courts. The claim, brought forward by more than 200,000 Brazilian citizens, hundreds of businesses, and 25 local municipalities, comes after the BHP and its joint-venture partner Vale’s [...]
Theranos president Sunny Balwani convicted on 12 counts for role at collapsed health tech firm July 8, 2022 The former president of Theranos has been convicted on all 12 counts brought against him over his role at the now discredited health technology firm. Sunny Balwani’s conviction marks the end of years of legal troubles for the exec after Theranos collapsed in 2016. Following a 13-week long trial, the 57-year year executive was convicted [...]
CMS hikes pay for newly qualified lawyers to £100,000 a year July 8, 2022 CMS has upped pay for its newly-qualified (NQ) lawyers for second time in a year, after raising their salaries to sums of £100,000 a year. The £5,000 pay rise for CMS’ freshly trained lawyers comes just a few months after the firm upped pay for its NQs to £95,000 a year in December 2021, according [...]
Lloyd’s to stay in iconic headquarters until at least 2031 July 8, 2022 Lloyd’s of London is set to stay in its iconic City of London headquarters until at least 2031, according to new reports that quell rumours the insurer had been planning to leave its purpose-built tower in 2026. There is now “zero chance” the insurer will trigger the lease break clause in its contract with its [...]
