The U.K.’s newly elected coalition government has said it will create a new enforcement agency to tackle serious white-collar crime, stripping other regulators of their powers in this area and abolishing the troubled Serious Fraud Office. The move was unveiled in a document released this week that sets out the government’s plans for the next […]
Global Glimpses
Posted inBoards & Shareholders
Pay Hike Provokes Revolt at SIG
Shareholders in the U.K. building materials company SIG voted to reject its remuneration report on Friday, making it one of only a handful of U.K. companies to fall victim to a revolt over pay. SIG incurred shareholder wrath after it increased the base salary of chief executive Chris Davies by 14.6 percent in a year […]
Posted inAnti-Bribery
Jailed Corruption Whistleblower Wins Sentence Appeal
A U.K. appeals court has overturned a controversial decision to jail an executive who cooperated with the Serious Fraud Office in a high-profile corruption case. Robert Dougall, former marketing director at healthcare company DePuy International, pleaded guilty to corruption charges last month under a plea deal agreed upon with the SFO. The SFO told the […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Get a Grip on Risk, Regulator Tells Canadian Bank Boards
Board directors at Canada’s financial services companies need to get a better grip on risk management, according to the country’s financial regulator. “The old excuses—the risk is too complicated, I don’t want to second guess, I don’t have enough time—just aren’t good enough anymore,” said Ted Price, an Assistant Superintendent at the Office of the […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Collapse of Cartel Case Puts Immunity in Doubt
Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic airline could be stripped of its whistleblowing immunity in a price-fixing cartel case after the prosecution of executives at the company it was alleged to have conspired with—British Airways—collapsed. The Office of Fair Trading, the U.K. agency that enforces competition law, abandoned its prosecution of four BA executives yesterday after new […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
New Zealand to Get Super-Regulator
New Zealand will get a new financial markets “super-regulator” next year to enforce the country’s securities laws and financial reporting rules. The all-powerful Financial Markets Authority (FMA) will also regulate financial advisers, financial service providers, and auditors. Commerce Minister Simon Power said the FMA will consolidate functions currently spread across the Securities Commission, government ministries, […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Australia Wants Target Number of Women on Boards
Companies with a stock market listing in Australia would have to disclose more information about the number of women they employ and publish clear targets for getting more women into top jobs, under proposed new corporate governance rules. Companies would have to reveal how many women they employ overall, how many hold senior management positions, […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
PwC Predict £10bn Hit From Pension Change
British companies could see their pension costs increase by £10 billion a year under accounting changes expected to be proposed this month by international standard setters, according to accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers. The International Accounting Standards Board has promised to publish an exposure draft in the first quarter of 2010 setting out how it plans to revise […]
Posted inEurope
Europe Inconsistent on Insider-Dealing Rules
The European Union’s 27 member states have taken an inconsistent approach to new laws aimed at cracking down on insider dealing, meaning that compliance requirements across the trading bloc vary widely, according to European securities regulators. The EU agreed to a common legal approach to insider dealing and stock mark manipulation seven years ago in […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
SFO Plea Plans Hit as Judge Jails Exec
Efforts by the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office to use plea bargaining as a way of dealing with financial crime were dealt a further blow this week when a judge jailed an executive who had cooperated with the agency. Robert Dougall, a former marketing director at Johnson & Johnson subsidiary DePuy International, admitted that he was […]