Insurance, disrupted: What does the start of 2021 tell us about the industry? January 29, 2021 We waited patiently for the new year. January was meant to be a fresh dawn, with many businesses embarking on transformation programmes to emerge stronger from the pandemic. But, looking at the economic and political events from this month, we see more disruption ahead. Particularly for insurance companies. Before founding OLIVER, I spent 15-years at Commercial [...]
Competition watchdog opens probe into Facebook’s Giphy takeover January 28, 2021 The UK competition watchdog has launched a formal investigation into Facebook’s takeover of popular gif search engine Giphy. Facebook last year announced it planned to merge the gif-maker with Instagram in a deal worth a reported $400m (£321m). The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) served an initial enforcement order in June, forcing the social media [...]
With no office, our future leaders are being held back January 27, 2021 In spite of the challenges facing central cities around the world at the moment, they are and will remain places with huge concentrations of the jobs which provide the greatest opportunities to learn and to move up the job hierarchy. For young people, Central London offers an unparalleled combination. A range of independent employers with [...]
JP Morgan to launch UK digital bank within months January 27, 2021 JP Morgan will launch a digital consumer bank in the UK within months, the Wall Street giant confirmed today. The new challenger bank will operate under the Chase brand and offer a range of products, including current accounts. JP Morgan said its new business, which is based in Canary Wharf, had already hired 400 people [...]
FCA mulls price cap on claims management company fees January 21, 2021 Consumers could save nearly £10m a year in claims management company (CMCs) fees as the regulator considers a price cap on the fees they charge for financial products. The Financial Conduct Authority took over the regulation of CMCs, which handle PPI and payday loans, from the Ministry of Justice in April 2019. The watchdog has [...]
FCA insists it protects consumers from investment harm despite criticism January 18, 2021 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) opened 1,500 supervisory cases involving scams or high risk investments in the first 10 months of 2020, in an effort to clamp down on consumer investment harm. The city regulator also stopped applications for authorisation from 343 financial services firms and individuals where the potential for consumer harm was identified [...]
UK regulatory changes forStablecoins and cryptoassets on the horizon January 18, 2021 On the 7th of January 2021, HM Treasury published a consultation paper titled “UK regulatory approach to cryptoassets and stablecoins: consultation and call for evidence” (Consultation). The Consultation represents the first stage in the government’s consultative process with industry and stakeholders on the broader regulatory approach to cryptoassets and stablecoins. It seeks views on how [...]
CMA’s review of market concentration in the pandemic January 18, 2021 In April 2020, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) cleared Amazon’s £450million investment into Deliveroo, heeding (and ultimately accepting) warnings from the parties that, absent the investment, Deliveroo would ultimately have to exit the market. Particularly so in the light of the impact of the government imposed lockdown and shuttering of restaurants. It is tempting [...]
Why everyone’s talking about hydrogen January 14, 2021 What is all the excitement about? Renewable energy can and will decarbonise power generation. Renewable energy and batteries can and will decarbonise the automotive sector. But these technologies will not be as viable for aviation, shipping, commercial vehicles, steel or fertiliser manufacturing. In all of these vital industries it looks as though hydrogen will be [...]
London Stock Exchange gets green light for $27bn Refinitiv deal January 13, 2021 EU competition regulators have approved London Stock Exchange’s $27bn (£20bn) takeover of Refinitiv, clearing the way for a major new rival to Bloomberg. The European Commission today said its investigation had raised a number of concerns about the deal, but that these would be addressed by a number of remedies. These include LSE’s €4.3bn sale [...]