What does a €50 carbon price mean for European companies? June 3, 2021 Earlier this month, the EU carbon price moved above €50 per tonne for the first time ever. The price is now more than double its level prior to the pandemic, with a sharp rise in recent months. What is the EU carbon price? The EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is designed to put a price [...]
Watchdog clears Ebay’s $9.2bn classified ads deal with Adevinta June 3, 2021 The competition watchdog has cleared Ebay’s $9.2bn (£6.5bn) sale of its classified ads business to Norwegian rival Adevinta. In March the two companies said they would sell off three British divisions to secure regulatory approval for the tie-up. Adevinta said it will divest Shpock, while US ecommerce giant Ebay will sell Gumtree and Motors.co.uk. The [...]
Audit reform – Two minds are better than one June 2, 2021 The UK might not have won Eurovision 2021, indeed it suffered the humiliation of scoring nil points, but it has certainly led the current race on audit and wider corporate governance reform. The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) issued its consultation ‘Restoring trust in audit and corporate governance’ in March with a [...]
Artificial Intelligence, Social Media, and the Future of Investing June 1, 2021 Witnessing the recent GameStop event, it was clear that for better or worse, the little guy, or many, many little guys, had briefly beaten Wall Street at its own game. While GameStop was fuelled primarily by the collective action of many, the voice of only one person, echoed by others, can have similar influence. For [...]
CMA and EU antitrust watchdogs eye AstraZeneca’s $39bn Alexion deal June 1, 2021 EU antitrust watchdogs and are set to decide by this weekend whether to approve AstraZeneca’s $39bn bid for biopharmaceutical company Alexion, a European Commission filing revealed today. Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca sought approval for the deal on Monday. However, the UK’s competition regulator is reviewing the takeover bid for the US-based pharma firm, until 5 July – [...]
Loyalty penalty on home and motor insurance to be scrapped May 28, 2021 Renewal quotes for home and motor insurance customers will soon not be more expensive than they would be for new customers, in a bid to tackle loyalty penalties in the insurance sector. Millions of home and motor insurance customers lose out if they renew repeatedly with their current providers, according to the city regulator. In [...]
Klarna rival Laybuy turns its attention to the UK’s buy now pay later market May 27, 2021 The buy now pay later market has exploded in recent years and now a New Zealand company is trying to make its mark in the UK. Laybuy was set up by Gary Rohloff, his wife and his two sons in 2018 and launched in the UK in early 2019. The likes of Klarna and Clearpay [...]
McAfee forced to refund customers following auto-renew probe May 25, 2021 Antivirus software giant McAfee will be forced to refund some customers whose contracts were automatically renewed following an investigation by the competition watchdog. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened an investigation into the anti-virus software market in 2018 amid concerns about unfair practices. A super-complaint filed by Citizens Advice warned that UK customers could [...]
Competition watchdog to probe Covid-19 vaccine maker AstraZeneca over £27.5bn US drug deal May 25, 2021 The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will probe Covid-19 vaccine maker AstraZeneca's £27.5bn megadeal to buy a US drug company.
HSBC and Barclays call for open banking reform over higher costs May 24, 2021 UK banks are reportedly unhappy with the high costs associated with open banking reforms which force them to share data with rivals in a bid to increase competition. Open banking is the UK’s implementation of the EU’s revised directive on payment services, which was introduced in 2015. UK regulated banks are required to let customers [...]