CMA clears Issa brothers’ Asda takeover after accepting petrol station sale June 16, 2021 The UK’s competition authority has today cleared the way for the Issa brothers’ £6.8bn takeover of supermarket Asda after accepting their offer to sell off 27 petrol stations. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had launched a probe into the deal in April due to fears that acquisition could increase petrol prices for motorists. The [...]
Government taskforce calls for easing of UK finance regulations to ‘unlock’ £100bn in investment June 15, 2021 A government taskforce has urged Boris Johnson to shed a range of UK regulations on finance post-Brexit to “unlock” more than £100bn of investment in small businesses and high-growth tech firms. The Taskforce for Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform (TIGGR), led by former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, called for changes to allow pension funds to easier invest in high-risk, [...]
Apple and Google under scrutiny from regulator over smartphone dominance June 15, 2021 Apple and Google are facing an investigation by UK competition authorities over concerns their dominance in the smartphone market is harming consumers. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) today said it will examine whether the companies’ “effective duopoly” over the supply of operating systems, app stores and web browsers should be curbed. The market study [...]
WOBI Announces Executive Program: Management Week 2021 June 11, 2021 Indra Nooyi, Francis Ford Coppola, and Arianna Huffington among speakers for upcoming Management Week this June 28, 29, 30 and July 1 2021 (LOCATION) – World of Business Ideas (WOBI), the leader in management and leadership content, is pleased to announce the first ever Management Week, a unique program designed to cover today’s most important [...]
UK competition regulator secures commitments from Google on third-party cookies June 11, 2021 The UK’s competition watchdog has said it has secured commitments from Google on its proposal to remove third-party cookies from its Chrome browser. Third-party cookies are used by digital advertising companies to personalise and target advertising. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the commitments came after it took action in January over concerns Google’s [...]
UK competition watchdog ‘to probe Amazon buy box’ June 10, 2021 The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority is planning to formally investigate competition at Amazon, according to reports this morning. The investigation comes amid a similar ongoing one by the EU into Amazon. The UK competition watchdog, which has been analysing the online retailer for months, has focused on how Amazon uses data collected on its [...]
CMA to investigate British Airways and Ryanair over lockdown flight refunds June 9, 2021 The UK’s markets watchdog has begun an investigation into British Airways and Ryanair today, to find whether they broke the law in not offering refunds for flights struck by lockdown laws. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will be looking at a potential breach in consumers’ legal rights when they were left out of pocket [...]
Brexit: Forced relocation of derivatives clearing from City to Frankfurt would only hurt EU, LSE warns June 7, 2021 In case the European Union does press ahead with the forced relocation of Euro derivates clearing from London to European capitals, costs for customers will jump and would ultimately put EU firms at a competitive disadvantage compared to their international rivals, according to the London Stock Exchange. “Restricting access to the EU economy and the [...]
French regulator fines Google €220m over advertising practices June 7, 2021 Google has agreed to pay €220m to settle a French investigation over its abuse of power in online advertising. The French Competition Authority said Google has been unfairly sending business to its advertising server and its online advertising auction house, at an unfair advantage to its rivals. It came after a complaint lodged by Rupert [...]
Donald Trump banned from Facebook for at least two years June 4, 2021 Former US President Donald Trump has been banned from Facebook until at least 2023 after months of debate. The social media company’s independent oversight board upheld Trump’s decision last month, which was enforced in the wake of the Capitol riots over concerns his posts were inciting violence. However the board ruled the decision was “not [...]