A former sales executive found guilty of involvement in a Unaoil Group-linked bribery scheme has appealed his conviction at a London court, arguing the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office failed to disclose secret communications between agency officials and a private investigator for other individuals implicated in the wrongdoing, the Wall Street Journal reported. Paul Bond, a former sales manager for Unaoil client SBM Offshore, said the SFO “fundamentally failed to comply” with its duty to disclose evidence and stopped him from receiving a fair trial. Mr.
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Britain's markets watchdog said on Wednesday it will fine hedge fund BlueCrest Capital Management UK 41 million pounds ($54.50 million) for conflict of interest failings over a fund set up for BlueCrest staff, Reuters reported. Between October 2011 and December 2015, BlueCrest failed to manage fairly a conflict of interest created by switching portfolio managers working on a fund open to investors outside BlueCrest to an internal fund open only to its partners and employees, the Financial Conduct Authority said in a statement.
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Britain announced 1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion) in grants and other aid to help the hospitality industry survive the onslaught of the omicron variant of COVID-19, bowing to days of pressure from pubs, restaurants and other businesses that complain public health warnings have torpedoed the vital Christmas season, the Associated Press reported. Businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors in England will be eligible for one-time grants of up to 6,000 pounds ($7,954) each.
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An independent watchdog will oversee the UK insolvency sector, ending decades of self-regulation, as part of a proposed government shake-up of the industry in the wake of a series of scandals, the Financial Times reported. The plans, published on Tuesday, would streamline the regulation of 1,600 licensed insolvency practitioners in England, Scotland and Wales by replacing the four professional bodies to which supervision is currently devolved.
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U.K. debt costs are rising at the fastest pace since the aftermath of the global financial crisis, a potential headache for Chancellor Rishi Sunak as he faces pressure to spend more to help businesses weather the impact of the omicron variant, Bloomberg News reported. Figures published Tuesday showed interest payments made by the Treasury surged 54% between April and November, or by 15 billion pounds ($20 billion) to 42.9 billion pounds. That’s the biggest jump for the period since 2010.
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KPMG will not refer any work to its former UK restructuring business Interpath Advisory in the latest fallout from the scandal over the sale of bed manufacturer Silentnight to a private equity firm, the Financial Times reported. The decision is part of KPMG’s attempts to repair its image after a series of fines and investigations. It has also sought to head off the threat of a ban on bidding for UK government consulting work by temporarily withdrawing from pitching for new public contracts, the Financial Times revealed on Friday.
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Company insolvencies in England and Wales rose last month to their highest level since January 2019, surpassing pre-COVID levels for the first time, government data showed on Friday, Reuters reported. The Insolvency Service, a government agency, registered 1,674 business insolvencies in November, up from 1,410 in October. This comprises mostly voluntary liquidations of businesses, but also companies falling into administration and compulsory liquidations.
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Britain's health minister on Sunday declined to rule out the chance of further COVID-19 restrictions before Christmas, saying the spread of the Omicron variant was a very fast moving situation, Reuters reported. Britain has reported a surge in Omicron cases, which government advisers said could be just the tip of the iceberg. On Saturday, London's mayor declared a "major incident" to help the city's hospitals cope.
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Inflation in Britain rose 5.1 percent last month, the highest annual rate in more than a decade, driven mainly by jumps in the cost of gasoline and clothing, the New York Times reported. The figure is a significant increase from October’s 4.2 percent rate, and shows that prices are rising faster than the Bank of England’s most recent forecast, which predicted inflation would rise to about 5 percent next spring. The central bank tries to keep inflation at about 2 percent.
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Major British airlines on Monday called on the government to remove testing rules for vaccinated passengers and provide economic support for the battered sector, as new travel rules were imposed to fight off the Omicron coronavirus variant, Reuters reported. Britain currently requires all inbound travellers to take a pre-departure COVID-19 test and another test on arrival in England, despite their vaccination status, dealing a blow to airlines trying to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
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