A NOTEPAD ON COMPANY AND FINANCIAL LAW, NEWS AND REGULATION
Details here.
“For the Regulations to enter into force, the formal approval by the Council and the European Parliament is still needed. It is expected that the decision by the Council will follow the plenary vote in the European Parliament in early 2013.”
See also: A venture capital passport: European Commission proposal
The Serious Fraud Office announced today that it is bringing criminal charges against Magnus Peterson, founder of hedge fund Weavering Capital.
The SFO had dropped its investigation into Weavering, but re-opened it in July 2012 under its new director David Green QC, as we reported here.
The SFO’s initial decision to drop the case was particularly odd given the Cayman Grand Court’s civil findings against two of the fund’s directors – discussed in this post – and the UK High Court’s finding in a civil case that Magnus Peterson had committed fraud and breached his duties of care, as we covered in this post.
See also: FSA seeks to ban hedge fund chief and fine him £3 million
30% Club press release of 13 December 2012:
“The 30% Club has been working on a new initiative to improve the number of women partners in UK professional services firms. A group of ten law firms and seven accountancy/consultancy firms, most of whose managing partners are members of the 30% Club, participated in a 10 week project, co-ordinated by the 30% Club and facilitated by McKinsey and Company. The purpose of the initiative was to examine why, notwithstanding the efforts of individual firms to date, progress remains limited as to the numbers of women partners in professional services firms, and suggest ideas for firms to explore to accelerate the pace of change. Key components of the initiative included interviews with senior leadership and HR managers, the provision of quantitative data on pipeline and talent processes and the participation by over 700 fee-earners in an online feedback survey, results of which were analysed on an anonymised and aggregated basis.
A key finding was that attrition was not the root cause of lack of women in partnership, nor prioritisation, with 80 per cent of firms having diversity as a strategic priority and an array of efforts being undertaken by individual firms. Rather it appeared the issue stems from inconsistent commitment to diversity at all levels in firms, questions around the partner promotion process which both men and women believe may not evaluate ability and different leadership styles in a way that furthers equality, and differences between men and women’s perceptions of being a partner and the process towards promotion. Ideas to address the challenges include embedding greater accountability for progress amongst all partners and effecting a shift from a diversity strategy focussed on women to a “talent” strategy, with a particular emphasis on sponsorship. An increased scrutiny of critical systems, such as work allocation and annual evaluation is also suggested, to ensure fairness of allocation and attribution of value to outputs in a broader range of ways. Continued collaboration and engagement with key stakeholders, including the client community, are also key, with a commitment made by these firms to reconvene to review progress on a regular basis going forward.”
Announcement here.
“The Business, Innovation and Skills Committee today announces its intention to inquire into the Kay Review of UK Equity Markets and Long-Term Decision Making and the Government’s Response to that Review.
The Committee invites submissions of evidence on the recommendations set out in the Kay Review and the Government’s plans for the implementation of its recommendations.”
Submissions are invited by 18 January 2013.
See also: Government response to the Kay Review: strongly supportive
The European Commission yesterday set out an “Action Plan: European company law and corporate governance“. The accompanying press release is here and a set of FAQs is here.
Below are the 16 measures contained in the plan; the “precise scope” of the different actions – i.e. whether each will relate to all companies or only to companies listed on regulated markets – will, in the Commission’s words, “be assessed at a later date”.
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http://top100innovators.com/. Although the methodology appears to be based entirely on patent registration, weighted to size and global presence.
On 4 December 2012 the National Association of Pension Funds issued revised corporate governance policies for:
The Association of British Insurers has updated its “Principles of Remuneration”, which are now dated November 2012 and can be read here.
Undated, published November 2012. Covers:
Has been updated. Contains examples of engagement letters, liability caps and disclaimer notices.
“This guidance, ICAEW Technical Release TECH 10/12AAF (Audit 1/01 updated), is issued by the Audit and Assurance Faculty of ICAEW in November 2012 to assist professional accountants when asked to provide reports that have been requested by third parties. ICAEW Technical Release TECH 10/12AAF updates ICAEW Technical Release Audit 1/01, Reporting to third parties, originally issued in 2001.”
FSA consultation launched 5 December 2012; press release here; consultation document here. The consultation closes on 13 February 2013.
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“Collider12 is looking for 10 ‘B2Brand’ Startups. These companies will receive £100,000 each and be coached by Pembridge Partnership Ltd, the Brands and selected experts intensively over 13 weeks in order to deliver their ‘Execution Plan’ for ultra-high growth.
The Startups will achieve customer validation and product market fit in the fastest possible way – by working with the big brands early in their lives and throughout their product development.”
“Today the Serious Fraud Office, with the assistance of the City of London Police, executed search warrants at three residential premises in Surrey (1) and Essex (2). Three men, aged 33, 41 and 47, have been arrested and taken to a London police station for interview in connection with the investigation into the manipulation of LIBOR. The men are all British nationals currently living in the United Kingdom.”
See also: Alleged LIBOR manipulation – collection of posts
The FSA’s Director of Markets set out, in a speech on 22 November 2012, a “reminder of how we got to EMIR and the outcomes we hope it will achieve…some of the practical issues firms are facing and the key challenges in implementing this regulation”.
See also: Useful EMIR links – FSA
The chief executive-designate of the Financial Conduct Authority, Martin Wheatley, gave an overview of the new regulator’s approach to client assets and market regulation in a speech on 20 November 2012. On markets regulation, Mr Wheatley said:
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The Financial Services Authority, in its guise as the UK Listing Authority, has published issue 4 of its Primary Market Bulletin.
This issue is entirely taken up with discussing how the UKLA has compiled the contents of its new “Knowledge Base“, which is “the UKLA’s repository of available technical guidance. The information is designed to assist both issuers and practitioners advising issuers in interpreting the Listing Rules, the Prospectus Rules and the Disclosure and Transparency Rules”. The notes in the Knowledge Base constitute formal FSA guidance.
FT review of Bill Janeway’s book “Doing Capitalism in the Innovation Economy”:
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Here, 8 December 2012.
Implicitly condemns the Guardian’s historic error that content must be free.
See also: Paywalls and the future of print and online media – Gawker
…irrespective of size or frequency. (Letter dated 6 December 2012.)
Summary of industry stance and the Treasury / FSA consultations promised in the New Year, from Pinsent Masons.
4 December 2012 speech by Jamie Symington, Head of Wholesale Enforcement at the Financial Services Authority; covers:
See also: Einhorn / Greenlight Capital posts.
Useful summary from Hogan Lovells, November 2012, here.
Good article from Gawker on online paywalls and the future of media:
“Examples of media outlets that can support paywalls: high quality national newspapers (NYT, WSJ, probably the WaPo, and… ?), sites that offer quality financial news to an audience for whom a paywall’s cost is negligible (WSJ, FT, Bloomberg), sites that cater to very specific niche audiences with highly specific news that can’t be easily found elsewhere (Politico, trade publications of all types, small local newspapers), sites offering very high quality proprietary longform journalism published on a frequent basis. Additionally, magazines that maintain their quality should be able to offer online subscriptions to their loyal subscriber base.
Examples of media outlets than cannot support paywalls: mediocre or shitty newspapers that have decimated their newsrooms, shitty magazines with little quality content, sites full of mostly opinions and listicles and other entertaining but easily reproduced things of that nature, most blogs. For example, Gawker Media—a fine, fine company that entertains millions of readers online every month—would not be a good candidate for a paywall, simply because no matter how good our content is, a paywall would immediately cause readers to go and seek out similar (lower quality, of course) content elsewhere online, where it is freely available. The situation is different for, say, Jane’s Defence Weekly. The fact that readers like you is not enough to support an online paywall; readers must need you.”
See also: Final edition of the Financial Times Deustchland says it all about the future of print media.
Rolls-Royce announcement, 6 December 2012:
Rolls-Royce, the global power systems company, has passed information to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) relating to concerns about bribery and corruption
involving intermediaries in overseas markets.This follows a request for information from the SFO about allegations of
malpractice in Indonesia and China. Investigations by Rolls-Royce have
identified matters of concern in these, and in other overseas markets.The consequence of these disclosures will be decided by the regulatory
authorities. It is too early to predict the outcomes, but these could include
the prosecution of individuals and of the company. We will cooperate fully.Rolls-Royce has significantly strengthened its compliance procedures in recent
years, including a new Global Ethics Code and a new Intermediaries Policy. It
has also expanded the Compliance function. As a further measure, Rolls-Royce
will appoint an independent senior figure who will lead a review of current
procedures and report to the Ethics Committee of the Board.
A very funny profile of Elizabeth Murdoch and the hungry Matthew Freud in the New Yorker.
See also: Rupert Murdoch’s mother dies at 103 - FT
BIS has today published its response to the consultation which it launched on 18 October 2012 on its proposed new “employee owner status”, under which employees would sacrifice some employee rights in exchange for CGT-advantaged shares in their employer. We covered the consultation launch in this post.
The consultation response is here.
From the executive summary of the consultation response:
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The Financial Reporting Council and the The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland launched on 20 November 2012 “a major project that will investigate the competencies and professional skills of auditors”. Press release here and project document here.
See also: SEC charges China affiliates of Big Four accounting firms with violating US securities laws
Accountancy watchdog starts investigation into PwC’s audits of disaster-prone RSM Tenon
Healthcare Locums fiasco: BDO under investigation
Big Four accountants are just too credulous, says audit watchdog
Auditors are basically useless says House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee
Differing views on news and tablet publishing from Felix Salmon (comments also interesting) and from John Gruber.
…in connection with the spate of accounting misdemeanours involving Chinese companies listed on US capital markets, of which the Sino-Forest scandal has been the most high-profile. SEC press release here.
On the same day, Canada’s stock market regulator has accused Ernst & Young LLP of failing to conduct a proper audit of Sino-Forest.
Following HP’s allegations of “serious accounting improprieties, misrepresentation and disclosure failures” at its recently-acquired Autonomy business, Dr Mike Lynch – the founder of Autonomy – has set up a website to provide “relevant information pertaining to the accusations made by Hewlett Packard on 20 November 2012 of financial impropriety at Autonomy”.
(“The former management team of Autonomy strongly rejects the accusations made by HP.”)
See also: Ian Hannam – charged with market abuse by the FSA – has set up his own website.
TechCrunch interview with Toni Schneider, the CEO of WordPress.com’s parent company Automattic.
“Overall, if you look at the entire Internet and just go down the list at what all the different sites run… 17.4 percent of all sites on the Internet are powered by WordPress. The next number two platform is Joomla, which is around 3 percent, and Drupal is around 2 something. And then, I believe Blogger is number four with one or 1.5 percent.
If you notice, that doesn’t add up to 100 percent. So actually, the majority of the web is still custom made sites that don’t even use a content management system.”
WordPress.org is the open source version to download and run yourself, and WordPress.com is run as a service.
