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 [...]
CMA to investigate Google over anti-competitive ‘Sandbox’ behaviour January 8, 2021 The competition watchdog has launched an investigation into alleged anti-competitive behaviour following proposed changes to its so-called ‘Privacy Sandbox’. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) probe was launched following a string of complaints, including from the Marketers for an Open Web group, which argue Google is abusing its market power. “Google’s Privacy Sandbox proposals will [...]
Close to 4,000 UK financial firms ‘at risk of collapse’ after first Covid-19 lockdown January 7, 2021 The UK’s first Covid-19 lockdown threatened the viability of around 4,000 financial firms, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said this morning. The financial watchdog surveyed 23,000 smaller financial firms to greater understand the financial impacts of Covid-19 and found that 59 per cent of firms expected blows to their profits due to the pandemic. Others’ [...]
The case for investing in financials January 7, 2021 Entire tomes have been devoted to investing in the financial services sector – hardly surprising when you consider its size, and therefore its significance to the world’s capital markets. To say the financial sector is large doesn’t do it justice. Of the total market capitalisation of the S&P 500, the world’s largest stock market index, [...]