Britain

Britain's Corporate Watchdog Rethinks Confusing Role

Neil Baker July 08, 2011

Britain's Financial Reporting Council is planning a major overhaul of the way it works, after conceding that its activities are often "impenetrable" to outsiders. The regulator, which enforces financial reporting laws, sets accounting and governance rules, and oversees audit firms, said it would streamline its structure.

U.K. Bribery Law Gets April 2011 Start Date

Global Glimpses July 21, 2010

The U.K.’s new corporate offense of failure to prevent bribery will take effect from April next year, the country’s new government has announced.The offense came onto the statute book when the previous government finalized the Bribery Act 2010 in its last days in office this May, but a date for...

U.K Attempts 'Sea Change' in Corruption Enforcement

Global Glimpses August 03, 2009

New guidance from the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office aimed at encouraging companies to self-report cases of overseas corruption represent a “sea change” in the agency’s approach to tackling corporate crime, according to a briefing from law firm Fulbright & Jaworski.The guidance adopts several clear themes from the U.S Department of...

UK’s Proposed Bribery Law Targets Foreign Companies

Global Glimpses April 06, 2009

The UK government has published long-awaited draft legislation that will create new criminal offenses to combat bribery, including measures aimed at foreign companies.The draft Bribery Bill, if enacted, would bring the UK into line with its international obligations to deal with companies that bribe overseas officials. The country has a...

FSA Set to Get Power to Grant Criminal Immunity

Global Glimpses January 15, 2009

The U.K. government has published draft legislation that would give the Financial Services Authority powers to grant immunity when investigating criminal cases, such as insider dealing.Currently the regulator can only offer plea bargains rather than immunity, and only then in civil cases, not criminal ones. The FSA has been calling...

FSA Grants Amnesty for Disclosure Rules

Global Glimpses January 12, 2009

U.K. regulator the Financial Services Authority has given company directors a brief amnesty to comply with its disclosure rules on shares used as loan security, after admitting the rules had caused “uncertainty.”In a statement issued to clarify its position, the FSA said a director who wants to use company shares...

FSA: No Combined Code for Foreign Cos.

Global Glimpses December 03, 2008

The Financial Services Authority has scrapped a proposal that would have made the Combined Code on Corporate Governance apply to many foreign companies listed on the London Stock Exchange.Under a set of proposals published in January—aimed at making London’s complex listing categories easier to understand—the FSA suggested that foreign companies...

IASB Chief Nearly Quit on Fair-Value Pressure

Global Glimpses November 19, 2008

Sir David Tweedie, chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board, considered resigning last month after coming under intense pressure from European Commission officials to retreat on fair-value accounting rules.The Commission wanted IASB to ease its rules relating to the valuation of financial instruments, to help banks weather the financial crisis....

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