Europe

The Serious Fraud Office has extended a deferred-prosecution agreement to Barclays to end an investigation into the bank’s alleged role in the £2 billion Qatari 2008 fundraising and other practices that helped the bank weather the financial crisis. British regulators recently gained the power to issue DPAs, and the SFO had considered informing the magistrates’ court that Barclays was not cooperating with regulators. Details inside.

Image: MasterCard is once again in the spotlight, as the European Commission has swooped in on the company’s potential abuse of interchange fees. After a two-year investigation, Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said, “MasterCard is artificially raising the costs of card payments, which would harm consumers and retailers in the European Union.” More inside.

Image: Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority has released new rules for its Senior Managers Regime, a compliance standard that will hold senior managers at financial firms personally accountable for corporate misconduct. “We have given clarity on rules that will embed personal accountability into the culture of the city,” Martin Wheatley, FCA chief executive, said. More inside.

U.K. companies will soon be required to create a register of owners who hold “significant control” over a company and its assets. Under the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015, companies will have to create and maintain a database of information about their decision makers that can be accessed by the public, says the Department for Business Innovation and Skills. If a company or beneficial owners provide incorrect or outdated information, they may be fined or imprisoned. More inside.

The Financial Conduct Authority and the Bank of England have finished banker rules that could have bonuses clawed back even after a decade of being awarded, if the firm comes under regulatory scrutiny for “potential material failures,” the FCA said. Senior managers aren’t off the hook either: They face a seven-year clawback period, while other staff members who fill supervisory roles will have to return up to five years of bonuses. Read more.

Image: This week, Europe’s Antitrust Chief Margrethe Vestager escalated a running regulatory battle with American tech giant Google—and Amazon is not too far behind. While the European Union launched an investigation into Amazon’s business practices last week, Vestager recently warned the online retailer about abusing its dominance in the marketplace by prohibiting publishers from offering better prices to competitors. As for Google, critics are expected to receive the EU’s full antitrust charge sheet against the search engine in the coming days.  Details inside.

Britain will be cleared of EU reforms that drop the axe on risky trading activities among big banks. The draft law was presented Wednesday to the EU’s state ambassadors for review.  If it receives their support, the proposed law will be passed on to Parliament on Friday for approval. Under the draft law from Lativa, which holds EU presidency, bank supervisors will scrutinize lenders over the 100 billion-euro limit to determine if their investment-banking activities are “excessively risky.” Read more.

Transparency International is calling for governance reform at the scandal-ridden football organization, Fédération Internationale de Football Association. TI says that restoring public trust won’t be an easy win for FIFA, but the global football association can set an example by rebuilding its governance structure and instituting independent non-executive directors and outside oversight. More inside.

Image: The European Union Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager confirmed that the watchdog is continuing its investigation into Google for allegedly engaging in anti-competitive behavior. In an interview with BBC, Vestager said that more probes are ongoing into the tech giant’s role in mapping, travel, flight, and third-party data. Details inside.