All competition and markets authority articles
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PremiumDelayed UK antitrust case underscores compliance, reputational risks
Antitrust infringement cases in the United Kingdom can run on for years, but there’s a question whether issuing fines that are dwarfed by the revenues of those organisations involved is a worthy deterrent—particularly if they are imposed over a decade after the misconduct ended. It’s also debatable whether the first ...
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PremiumUK’s deregulation drive raises compliance risk, say top lawyers
The United Kingdom’s latest effort to encourage regulators to pare down rules to attract companies and investment as a way to stimulate the economy has received mixed reviews from lawyers.
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ArticleEuropean regulators warn coronavirus villains will be punished … eventually
While EU regulators have not engaged in investigations yet or launched many (or any) coronavirus-related enforcement actions, lawyers warn they will do so later down the line and believe they will tackle “worst offenders” first.
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ArticleBDO warns about state of ‘broken’ U.K. audit market
The head of one of the United Kingdom’s biggest accountancy firms has said the audit market is “clearly broken” and “trust needs to be restored,” though how that should be done is “not clear.”
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ArticleFRC investigates EY over Thomas Cook’s books
The U.K. Financial Reporting Council is investigating EY over the audit work it carried out at travel firm Thomas Cook, which recently declared bankruptcy.
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Article
Aspen to pay $9.7M to settle U.K. competition concerns
Aspen Pharmacare has offered to pay the U.K.’s National Health Service £8 million (U.S. $9.7 million) following suspicions that the company paid rival firms to delay marketing a vital medicine to retain market dominance.
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ArticleCMA recommends major overhaul of U.K. audit market
The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has recommended reform of the audit market aimed at increasing quality and competition and breaking the stranglehold of the Big Four accounting firms.
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Article
No easy answers for breaking up Big Four in U.K.
The last time the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority attempted to break up what is widely referred to as an oligopoly of the audit market by the Big Four audit firms—EY, PwC, Deloitte and KPMG—its actions had the opposite effect.
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Article
CMA launches first advertising campaign to curb cartels
The Competition and Markets Authority is putting out a £100,000 (U.S.$124,822) bounty for those who blow the whistle on cartel activity, but not everyone wants to pay for disclosure.
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Blog
Britain’s Top Banks Escape Breaking Up; CMA Calls for More Clarity
Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has squashed the idea of breaking up some of the country’s largest banks in an effort to improve competition across the industry. After a thorough review, the CMA found that there’s no direct connection between free accounts and competition. Instead, the competition watchdog ...