Can regulators get the City growing? It will be hard to tell, lawyers warn May 10, 2023 The government may run into trouble as it looks to gauge the impact of City regulators in boosting the growth and international standing of the UK’s financial sector, top lawyers have warned.
AI doing the work of over 200 people at Octopus, chief executive says May 8, 2023 Octopus Energy customers are more satisfied with AI bots answering their emails than humans, the energy provider’s chief executive revealed on Monday. Writing in the Times newspaper, the energy company’s chief executive, Greg Jackson, said the technology was doing the work of 250 people by answering customer emails and had received a 80 per cent [...]
Activision deal: Survey says CMA wrong to block Microsoft tie-up May 8, 2023 A quarter of the public thought the UK competition watchdog was wrong to block Microsoft’s $70b deal to acquire Activision Blizzard, a new poll has found. One in four of the public were opposed to the UK Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) decision to block the deal, while a further 16 percent thought it was [...]
Post-Brexit powers mean regulators need greater oversight, City figures warn May 5, 2023 Ex-ministers and City figures have warned that the government is not doing enough to improve the scrutiny of regulators after Brexit, in a sign that past rows about protecting the independence of the UK’s top financial regulators could resurface in the coming months. Following Brexit, UK financial regulators, such as the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and [...]
UK antitrust agency probes AI market as calls for regulation grow louder May 4, 2023 The UK's competition regulator has launched a review into the advancement of artificial intelligence, it confirmed today, amid growing concerns over its unchecked power to potentially overhaul the jobs market and spread misinformation.
Mark Kleinman: Vodafone’s CEO call, audit watchdog delays and a wave of insolvencies May 4, 2023 It's the column that gets the Square Mile talking, from the man who talks to everybody - Sky News' Mark Kleinman
As FCA rewrites listing rules, another firm ditches London due to ‘regulatory burden’ May 3, 2023 A London-listing and the associated tangle of regulatory red tape inflict more pain on firms than benefits, an AIM-listed renewables firm said today, as it announced plans to ditch its quoted status in the City.
London listings: Watchdog proposes doing away with ‘standard’ and ‘premium’ segments May 2, 2023 The UK’s financial watchdog announced proposals to streamline listing rules in the UK as it seeks to make the UK market a more attractive destination for firms to list. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) acknowledged that the UK’s listing regime was seen by some as too complicated and has proposed merging the ‘standard’ and ‘premium’ [...]
Tesco, Sainsbury’s face calls for investigation into ‘profiteering’ as prices soar May 2, 2023 An inquiry should be commissioned into whether supermarkets have been “profiteering” during the cost-of-living crisis, the Liberal Democrats have said. Party leader Sir Ed Davey is calling for the competition watchdog to start an investigation into whether food retailers put up the price of goods by more than was necessary to cover the cost of [...]
Artificial intelligence could save London from losing our competitive edge to the US May 2, 2023 The future is AI and if London wants to be a global leader, we need to strike the right balance of innovation and regulation here in the City, writes Chris Hayward